Mirror of the Soul
by Hopeful-Husky
Summary: Kim Possible fresh from a stint in prison for a crime she may or may not have committed is immersed in the mystery of who killed her father. Her only ally is an old enemy who seeks revenge for the murder of her own friend. Together can they solve their mysteries and stop a heinous villain from conquering the world before they kill each other or fall in love.
1. Incarceration

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **Introduction: Welcome to my first original fanfiction story. This will be a story of life, death, greed, pain, vengeance, arrogance, and love. It is Kim Possible, but a Kim that has suffered some of life's greatest pains and emerged a slightly grittier and grown up woman. I invite you to join me on this adventure with her to solve a terrible crime and heal more than one broken heart.**_

 _ **Background: This story takes place after season four of the Kim Possible television series. It begins a little over six years after graduation but some of the flashback scenes will take place just after Kim's high school graduation.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _" **One of the many lessons one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be." (Oscar Wilde)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

It was 5:30 A.M. and the guard was walking down the cell block banging her nightstick against the bars as she walked.

"Clank…clank…clank…clank…Wake up ladies! Rise and shine! Another beautiful day in prison while serving your time and paying back society for the errors of your wasted lives". The guard finally stopped next to the last cell on the block.

Penal officer Claire Boswell had been a correctional guard for twenty five years and had experienced everything that prison life could offer. She had been stabbed, robbed, clubbed, shanked, spit upon, and generally abused in ways most people have never dreamed. She had been caught in riots, escapes, and even held hostage once but had always come out in one piece. In short she had been convinced that she had both seen and lived through it all. That was until she came.

One woman, little more than a girl, had come into her prison and changed everything. Claire had thought she was little more than a broken teenager that had little hope of surviving the system. That little girl had sent three of the strongest bull dykes in the prison to the infirmary, in pieces, on the first day. The prison at first isolated her for her own, and everyone else's, protection but of course she eventually got out. When she got out, that girl went to work with a passion Claire had never before seen in an inmate.

Claire had watched as the girl worked to help all the other inmates around her regardless of their crimes or hang-ups. She built a quick following of loyal sycophants and then she really went to work. She took on any of the corrupt guards, the drug gangs, the rapists, the control freaks, and finally set herself up as the defacto overlord of all inside prison activity. She never stopped all the violence or the prisoners from getting their contraband but she cleaned it up and got rid of the harmful narcotics, weapons, and the sex trade. No one could turn this place in to the Garden of Eden but Claire had to admit things were much better than before. She was going to be sorry to see her go.

"Up and at 'em Possible! I hear this is your lucky day".

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

'Thanks Claire', thought Kim Possible as she lay in her cell's bunk staring at the ceiling. Claire was one of the good ones. A prison guard who did her job well and didn't do it at the expense of someone else. Kim had learned early on about Claire and several others and had strived to work with them to make this place better. Well if not better than at least livable.

Had it really been six years? Six long years she had been in this place. How time flies when you're having fun.

Six years didn't seem that long when she had been offered the plea deal but it quickly had turned into an eternity. Second degree manslaughter instead of second degree murder offered by the District Attorney. It had seemed so simple and so justified at the time but now she wasn't so sure. What was it Ron had said to her?

 _(Six years ago – first day of jail)_

 _'_ _KP they got nothing on you!' shouted Ron into the phone at the prison visiting booth._

 _'Ron they have me on film shoving the man who killed my father off the roof of the Space Center', replied Kim for the third time into the phone._

 _'Yeah…but you have saved the world numerous times that has to count for something'._

 _'It does. That's why they have offered me the plea bargain down to manslaughter_ _'._

 _'That's no deal. Take this case to trial Kim! There is no jury in the world that would convict you. That's why they're offering you the plea deal'._

 _'Ron I'm guilty'._

 _'Wrong KP! There is no way the Kim I know would do such a thing'._

 _'Yes I could', Kim stared daggers through the glass and into Ron's heart. 'I had just seen that bastard murder my dad. Yes… I… could', she enunciated the last three words with more anger than Ron had ever seen from Kim before._

 _'Kim even if you did those things there were extenuating circumstances. Please take this to trial we can win this'._

 _'No Ron. I won't put my family through this anymore. A trial could take months if not years and I won't win. I've heard how the press vans, the paparazzi, and every goon with a camera are stalking them day and night. It will destroy any chance my mother or brothers have of a normal life. I can't do that to them'._

 _'But KP…'_

 _"Ron I want you to promise to do something for me', Kim tried not to cry but she couldn't help herself. Ron was her best friend, her boyfriend, her companion since preK. He deserved so much better than this._

 _'Anything KP', Kim could see the complete honesty in his face. It was the part she loved best about him._

 _'Do you promise?' she insisted._

 _'Abso-freaking-lutely'._

 _'I want you to have a chance for a normal life. I want you to leave me and never come back'._

 _'What…No! KP no matter what happens I can wait. We can handle this'._

 _'Goodbye Ron', Kim hung up the phone and stood up to leave. She could hear Ron yelling for her through the glass but she never looked back. She knew it was a cowardly thing for her to do but if she saw his face she wouldn't have been able to leave. Kim had cried for days after sending Ron away but she knew that was the best thing she could do for him._

"I'm so sorry Ron", whispered Kim into the shadowy light of her cell as she rolled out of her bunk. She stretched her arms toward the ceiling and popped her neck and her back. Ron kept his promise just as she asked and had never returned to see her in prison. She had received no correspondence from him in the six long years and she just hoped that somewhere out there he had found some way to forgive her.

In fact other than her immediate family, and some nosy reporters, only the head of Global Justice, Doctor Betty Director had come to see her. No that wasn't true; there had been one other person that had come to see her. But she had only come that one time long ago.

 _(Six years ago - first day of prison)_

 _'_ _Damnit princess you have got to snap out of this and get your head out of your ass!' screamed Shego as she sat across the table from Kim in the prison visitor room._

 _'What do you want me to do Shego? Break out of prison? Live on the run like you? Turn my back on everything I have ever stood for?' sneered Kim in righteous mockery of the green skinned woman sitting across from her._

 _'This isn't about some kind of foolish heroic ideal. It's about justice for your father and for Drew'._

 _'It's about revenge'._

 _'Call it what you want. Your dad and Drew were killed hundreds of miles apart, at almost the exact same time, and as they were working together on almost the exact same thing. That is a little too coincidental for my taste'._

 _'So?'_

 _'So! Let me get you out of here. I could use your help in finding out who was really responsible for all of this'._

 _'Haven't you been watching the news Shego? I took care of my part. I killed the man who murdered my father'._

 _'Good for you princess. I would have done the exact same thing'._

 _'I'm not you!' said Kim as she slammed her fists on the table._

 _'Mores the pity. Even with the Lorwardian Pardon clearing my criminal record there are some places I can't go and things I can't do, so I could really use your help'._

 _'Oh, the great Shego admits there is something she can't do. I guess hell really must have frozen over'._

 _'Damnit Possible this isn't about you and me anymore. This mess is bigger than that and you need to take some grown up responsibility and help me solve this'._

 _'I am taking my grown up responsibilities seriously by admitting my guilt and serving my sentence. Something you never did'._

 _Both women stared angrily at each other across the table. Shego's fists kept flexing in and out as she tried to control her rising anger. Coming here was a big mistake. Shego stood up from the table and turned to leave._

 _'I'm sorry. I want to help but I…just can't do what you want', stated Kim as she stared at her hands as tears rolled down her face._

 _'There will come a time Princess when you are languishing in this hell-hole that you will wish you had been willing to listen to me'. Shego motioned for the guard to open the door so she could leave._

 _'I've always obeyed the law Shego. How can I change that now?'_

 _'I thought you were Kim Possible, the girl who could do anything. I guess I was wrong'._

Kim left her cell and followed the other inmates toward the cafeteria where she knew what passed for today's breakfast would be served. She couldn't help but contemplate on what Shego had said to her.

Maybe she should have listened to Shego all those years ago? But no, that would have made her a fugitive for life and that just wasn't her style. She had paid the required debt to society and now she was ready to move forward on her own terms. That was why she had never taken any form of early parole. She didn't want to get out of prison and be beholden to anyone, not the police or any parole officer.

No, Kim wanted to be out on her own and that was why today was going to be a good day. A good day? How long had it been since she had experienced one of those? None in recent memory, at least none since that day. Now that she had thought of it, she began to remember that terrible day and no matter how hard she tried not to, the memories always found a way back to her.

That awful-awful day when the whole world changed.

 _(Six years ago – The beginning of the awful-awful day)_

 _'Yes KP we are free from high school and our future lies before us and it is bright', said Ron as he waved his arms in a panoramic motion before himself as they entered the Middleton Space & Science Center._

 _'Yeah freedom!' agreed Rufus as he poked his head out of Ron's pants pocket._

 _'_ _Exaggerate much Ron._ _We're only here to see my dad's work on his nanotech control probes for the deep space rocket control program', said Kim as she took her boyfriend's arm and steered him further into the facility._

 _'Nano…what?' mumbled Ron in confusion._

 _'Tiny robots used to manipulate and control complex computer and operational systems'._

 _'Oh yeah, that what. But why are we here to see them?'_

 _'I'm writing a paper on them for admission applications into some of the most exclusive colleges in the world'._

 _'These wouldn't happen to be colleges very far away and I don't have to write a paper do I?'_

 _'Maybe and no. Don't worry you're coming with me wherever I go', Kim tightened her grip on his arm and leaned in to kiss his cheek._

 _'Sweet'._

 _'Boo-yah!' agreed Rufus._

 _After passing through various security checkpoints Kim and Ron finally reached her dad's, Dr. James Timothy Possible, labs. The nanotechnology breakthrough was the culmination of the Hephaestus Project and signified a major achievement for the advancement and control of Artificial Intelligence (AI) computer system._

 _'Dr. Porter, Professor Ramesh how nice to see you both', said Kim as they entered the research area._

 _Dr. Vivian Frances Porter was a brilliant, and supermodel level beautiful, robotic scientist that worked with Kim's father and was a key contributor to the nanotech research. Professor Ramesh, an old college friend of her father, was an astrophysicist who was assisting with the development of the project's space application systems._

 _'Good to see you Kim and your friend…" Vivian seemed lost on remembering who Ron was._

 _'This is my boyfriend Ron", said Kim as she hugged Ron and pushed him towards Vivian._

 _'Please to meet you Doctor', Ron extended his hand._

 _'You too', Vivian winked and smiled that killer super-model smile she had._

 _'Quite the conquest Mr. Stoppable in winning the young Miss Possible's heart", said Professor Ramesh as he put an elbow into Ron's side._

 _'Oh no sir, it wasn't all that…' Kim quickly glared at Ron, 'and I am so lucky to have her…did I mention how lucky I am'._

 _'Is everything all right Dr. Porter?' A tall, well built, and clean shaven bald man had moved up behind Vivian and seemed to coldly assess everyone with his eyes._

 _'Yes we're fine Oliver. Kim you do remember my friend Oliver?' Vivian stepped back and wrapped an arm around Oliver's broad shoulders._

 _'Yes I do. How are you doing Oliver? How are your studies coming along?'_

 _'My physical condition is unchanging Miss Possible and my study of the human condition and this world continues'._

 _'Yes his neural net and operating system has increased three orders of magnitude in size and speed since he started his studies', said Vivian with extreme pride._

 _'Four orders of magnitude', corrected Oliver._

 _'Well you kids better get along I know your father is expecting you Miss Possible', said Ramesh._

 _'We will. Nice meeting both of you again', said Kim as she led Ron away._

 _'Who was that last guy? He was kind of cold'._

 _'Oliver is not just any guy Ron. He is a fully functional Artificially Intelligent learning robotic organism'._

 _'Oh well I guess it's all right then'._

 _They entered Dr. James Possible's lab and found him in deep discussion with two other scientists, a tall beautiful brunette Native American woman and an equally tall, and handsome, blonde European man. When her father spotted her and Ron, he excused himself and came over with his arms spread wide._

 _'Hey there is my Kimmie-cub', he embraced Kim with her hugging him back with enthusiasm only a beloved daughter could muster._

 _'How are you Ronald? Been keeping my Kimmie happy have you?' Dr. Possible extended his hand towards Ronald but leaned over towards him with a critical eye._

 _'You know it Dr. P. I don't want to see the inside of a black hole', said Ron nervously as he shook the offered hand._

 _'Words I like to hear', said Dr. Possible as he relaxed his eye and gave a playful wink._

 _'So daddy tell me about your project. What makes it special?'_

 _'Excellent question Kim and why don't I just show you. First of all, let me introduce you both to my new assistants on this project. This is Dr. Beverly Kachina a skilled cyberneticist from the California Institute of Technology'._

 _'Pleased to meet you Miss Possible and Mr. Stoppable", said the tall brunette with so much sweetness that it seemed artificial._

 _Kim could have sworn that Ms. Kachina was smiling at her as if they had met before. She was certain that she hadn't met the woman before and something about her just rubbed Kim the wrong way._

 _'This is Dr. Allister Fraser a brilliant roboticist from the European Space Agency'._

 _'Charmed to meet you at last my pretty lassie', said Allister in an obvious Scottish accent._

 _Kim blushed and she could see Ron looking upset at the man's overtly forward greeting of Kim. Not to mention the fact that he had seemed to completely ignore Ron._

 _'Now lay off the charm Allister. Miss Possible didn't come here to be another of your conquests', teased Beverly._

 _'Indeed', said James as he physically pushed Allister away from his daughter. 'She is here to see a successful test of our nanotech control system'._

 _'Then let's give her what she wants', said Beverly._

Kim stared into her tray and slowly pushed her scrambled eggs back and forth. The mess hall was crammed full of other prison inmates but no one sat next to or talked to her. It was an unwritten rule not to bother someone on their last day inside unless they first came to you.

'I'm not going to miss the food', thought Kim. I can't believe I lived on this stuff for six years. I don't care what it might do to my waistline, I'm stuffing myself on some descent food when I get out of here. The food in this place seems to tear you apart far more than keep you together.

Tearing someone apart? Why did she have to use that analogy? Maybe because she couldn't get that terrible image out of her head.

 _(Six years ago – her father's lab – That awful-awful day)_

 _The nanobots were stored in a large metallic pool like structure within her father's lab. She and Ron stood off to the side behind a large transparent screen while her father and his assistants manipulate the electromagnetic fields that controlled and contained the nanobots. The tiny robots were carefully maintained in controlled conditions because if not, they could theoretically invade any electronic system or if released in sufficient quantity physically take apart any object they encounter. They could literally disintegrate something down to almost the molecular level._

 _Above them Dr. Porter and Professor Ramesh monitored the test from the operations control room. Her dad, Dr. Kachina, and Dr. Fraser carefully released and contained a tiny portion of the large pool into a container, made of electromagnetic fields, the size of a soda can. They moved this container to a small transparent case which contained multiple operating computers. Once inside the container they released the field and the nanobots were programmed to invade the computers. The tiny machines invaded the hardware and began rewriting the software of all the computers. Kim was impressed and a little frightened at the ramifications of what the nanobots represented._

 _Then she saw red lights begin to flash from the control room. Kim looked up and saw Dr. Porter and the Professor arguing about something and she could have sworn that Ramesh looked frightened._

 _Then the control panel, which Dr. Kachina was working at began to spark and then burst into flames. Kim watched as her father pulled her to safety as more and more of the instruments around them began to malfunction. Many just shut down while others seemed to overload with many catching fire. The lights began to flash on and off intermittently and smoke began to fill the lab._

 _'KP we have to get out of her', yelled Ron over the sound of the continually erupting machinery._

 _'Go help those in the control room. I have to help my dad', said Kim as Ron ran off towards the control room._

 _The bad lighting and smoke hampered her progress as she crossed the room. She lost track of her father or anyone else but she pressed on, she had to get to him. Using years of cheerleader training and mission work she leapt and danced over sparking screens and burning cables. Finally she saw her father standing next to the nanobot pool manipulating an apparently still functioning computer terminal. He was still a dozen feet from her but he was unhurt and alive and her heart almost burst with relief and happiness._

 _'Dad we have to get out of here!'_

 _'Just a second Kimmie-cub. If I don't shut these things off their accidental release could cause an environmental disaster'._

 _It was then that Dr. Fraser came out of the smoke behind her dad. Kim at first was overjoyed to see him alive but that joy soon turned to despair. He held what appeared to be a long medical scalpel in his raised right hand._

 _'Daddy!' she screamed and watched as James looked up at her as Dr. Fraser drove the knife into his back. Time itself seemed to slow to a minute crawl as Kim watched her father stiffen in shock and pain, then fall forward into the nanobot pool. She watched in abject horror as her father was completely torn apart by the multitudes of tiny robots. In a matter of seconds nothing remained. Not even the smallest part of her father was left to mourn._

 _'No, no, no, nooooooo!' screams ripped from Kim's throat until her voice cracked from the pain. Movement off to the side caught her attention as Dr. Fraser turned and fled into the smoke. A fleeting glance at his face showed her the hint of a smile and a malevolent glee in his eyes._

 _Rage powerful and all-consuming burst forth from Kim as she struggled to cross the room and pursue him. A race ensued where she would catch fleeting glimpses of him as he fled through rooms, hallways, and upstairs. Fire quickly spread through the building as alarms, water, and gas fire suppression systems began to activate. The chase finally led to the roof where billowing clouds of smoke stung her eyes and scorched her lungs._

 _Kim ran into the darkness of the roof where flames leapt into the sky and smoke obscured everything. She heard sirens and the yelling and screaming of people on the ground outside the building. Her eyes were burning and she was almost blind but her fury would not rest. She would find this bastard and she would make him pay!_

 _Almost blind with pain and grief she collided with someone. The crash was immediate and painful but Kim felt that the person she collided with was surprisingly soft and pliable. The impact knocked her down but she struggled to her feet and surged forward. Quickly she emerged from the smoke and found herself leaning over the side of the building._

 _Kim stared in horror at the scene several floors below. Dr. Fraser lay sprawled on the ground, his neck bent at a horrible angle and blood beginning to pool under his body._

 _'She did it. I saw her push him off the roof', yelled a woman who stood on the ground not far from the body._

 _Kim looked over and found herself staring into the eyes of over a dozen people including a television camera crew. She watched as a female reporter smoothed out her hair and turned to the waiting camera._

 _'Now in an exclusive breaking story. Kim Possible the teen hero has apparently taken her form of vigilante justice to the extreme and pushed someone off of a burning building, to their death'._

"Vigilante justice my ass", thought Kim. She angrily pushed her tray of food away uneaten.

I spend years saving the world and not harming anyone and then I take out the one dude who killed my father and suddenly I'm a member of the Manson family. Well if the world thought I was a bad girl back then just wait until they get a taste of me now.

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Doctor Betty Director as head of GJ had a very busy schedule. However, she had cleared her calendar for this day a long time ago. She sat in a very old and uncomfortable chair sipping from a glass of lukewarm coffee as she waited in a freezing prison waiting room.

The only other occupant of that room paced back and forth like a caged Lioness. Dr. Anne Possible was quite the different woman than Betty remembered from six years ago. The former brain surgeon was now a practicing pediatrician in some small rinky-dink town. Where before she had been a vibrant red head she now sported long dark chocolate colored hair. Betty always remembered Anne being a smiling happy woman but now she seemed sullen and withdrawn.

Betty remembered how the press had pursued Anne and her family in the wake of Kim's incarceration. The tabloids had run for months with the story until the public lost interest and moved on to the next big thing. The Possible family, what was left of it, had left Middleton and disappeared into obscurity.

"Why don't you sit down Anne? Pacing won't make them process Kim any quicker".

"Thank you Director. I'll take that under advisement". Strike one, Betty decided to change tactics.

"Why are you here alone? Why didn't Kim's brothers come along?"

"They are away at college right now".

"So how is your practice coming?"

"Fine. I know you want to pass the time Director but it's a little late to start caring for me and my family". Strike two, time to up her game a little.

"I've always tried to do what's best for your family".

"I see. Then why has my daughter languished in prison for these past six years?"

"I counseled Kim against taking the plea deal. I thought she stood a good chance at trial".

"Things would have been ten times worse for us. They would have called it the trial of the century and dragged Kim through that for years". Anne stopped pacing and finally turned to directly confront Betty.

"Probably. Kim was eighteen, technically an adult, so I couldn't stop her from accepting the plea. I threw all the weight of GJ behind her hoping to get a reduced sentence but the system was wanting to make an example of people taking justice into their own hands".

"So in other words your help accomplished nothing". Strike three, oh well she at least stepped up to the plate.

"I'm sorry Anne".

"Keep your sorry. I just want my daughter back".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim walked through the main exercise area surrounded by guards. A makeshift alley way made of inmates was waiting for her. Kim stopped to shake hands, hug, and say goodbye to many of the inmates who lined up to see her off. Many were overjoyed for her and cheered while others cried but all appeared genuinely happy for Kim finally getting out.

Finally she got to the last six inmates waiting for her. These were the core members of her posse. Each of them had lived and fought by her side over the years inside. She had saved their lives many times and to an extent they had saved hers. They had been her supporters, confidants, fighters, friends, and even yes occasionally lovers.

Kim had always considered herself straight sexually but she had also readily admired the girls around her. Hell, high school cheerleading had been a great way to admire the beauty of the female form. She had discovered that her desire to help everyone had really been an extension of her attraction to all people, women included. Kim was no prude about sex. She understood that isolation from one's feelings was one of the greatest traps you could fall into in prison.

Veronica, Charlotte, and Madison were three African American women who were her best sparring martial fighters and chief control crowd. All three embraced Kim in mutual gang hug and murmured expressions of joy and happiness for Kim. She thanked them all and made each of them promise to continue their training and to help the others carry on her work.

Lacy a short blonde woman had been Kim's scrounger and inventor. She had turned the most innocuous items into useable contraband. Lacy had been the key to Kim cleaning up the illegal smuggling trades in the prison and replacing them with safer alternatives. Kim took Lacy by the hands and promised her that she would send her several gifts bags of supplies once she was outside the prison.

Barbara was a tall powerful brunette who had been Kim's second in command since the beginning. She still had ten years of a twenty five sentence left to serve. The woman was a tower of muscle and even though her eyes shown with a sheen of moisture she refused to cry.

"Barbara I leave you in charge now. Promise that you will keep our people safe and our work going. Everyone will still need your help once I'm gone".

"Don't worry Kim. I won't let you down", Barbara extended her arm and Kim embraced it as a fellow warrior.

Candice, a tall pale skinned extremely dark haired girl, was the last one and Kim could swear the girl was shaking with fear. Kim threw her arms around her and held her until she quieted. Candice had been Kim's cell mate for many years and was the closest thing Kim had to a friend.

"It's alright Candice. Barbara will take care of you now. I'll write to you as often as I can".

"No!" Kim was taken back by the vehemence of the girl's response.

"Why not?"

"I want you to move on. I want you to be free to find someone else and be happy. Promise me that you will move forward and not look back", Candice grabbed Kim and kissed her with fervent passion. When she broke the kiss she turned and walked away without looking back.

"I promise", whispered Kim as she watched Candice walk away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Warden Nikita Palmer stood with her elite group of personal bodyguards and waited as Kim was buzzed out of general population and admitted into processing. The warden respected Possible but slightly resented the fact that her guards almost seemed to respect her more than Nikita. She didn't mind too much because the efficiency with which Kim had controlled the inmates had made her career as warden much easier.

Kim passed the warden without comment and stepped up to the yellow processing line. A guard at the personnel supply office slid open the counter and brought out a large cardboard box.

"Kimberly Anne Possible inmate serial number 20070907. Inventory of personal effects as follows: one pair cargo pants…one black crop top blouse…one pair gloves…one hair dryer…one half pack uneaten Juicy Fruit gum…one red color lipstick…one broken miniature game console".

"Kimmunicator", corrected Kim.

"Whatever. One pair girls running track shoes…one picture of boy, girl, and bald hamster".

"Naked mole rat".

"Whatever. Please sign here", the guard handed Kim a clipboard and pen. Kim signed the document and took the cardboard box.

"Any plans once you get topside Possible", asked the Warden.

"I'm never going to wear orange again", said Kim as she fingered her orange prison jumpsuit.

"Good fashion choice. I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I really hope our professional paths don't ever cross again Possible".

"They won't warden. I'll die before I let them put me in this place again".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anne Possible had waited with nervous anticipation for this day to come. She had marked her calendar and had meticulously scratched off every day until today. The sudden and complete loss of James had been devastating but losing Kim as well had very nearly destroyed her. Only the boys, her love for Kim, and a reserve of strength she hadn't known she possessed had prevented her from spiraling into the abyss.

Now she watched as Kim was buzzed through several gates on her way to the waiting area. Anne took the time to really look at how her baby girl had changed. First of all it was incorrect to call her a girl any longer. Kim was eighteen when she went into prison and she was now a five foot five woman of twenty four.

They had cut Kim's hair some in the beginning to try and control her but she had grown it back and it now hung tied back in single long strand down her back. It was the same dark fiery red that her hair had been at Kim's age.

Anne remembered her daughter being strong and athletic but now she would have been surprised if Kim had an ounce of fat on her. Kim looked taut, trim, and sleek like a weapon honed to a razor's edge. She was still incredibly beautiful but her sweet innocence had been replaced with a severe aura of control.

Kim walked like a predator. Always on the alert for danger and seemingly ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. Anne was convinced that her daughter had truly learned to survive in prison but at what cost? What was the point of surviving if along the way you forgot how to live?

The final gate was buzzed and Kim stepped through in an orange jumpsuit carrying a cardboard box. Anne had wanted to give Kim her space but she couldn't control herself as she rushed forward to take her daughter into her arms. At first Kim had stiffened but then relaxed into the embrace.

"I'm so sorry Kimmie-cub".

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know it just seemed the thing to say". Anne was crying as she pushed Kim to arm's length and gazed up and down her body. "First of all we have to get you out of those clothes. I brought you some things to change into. I have a car waiting outside and we can leave this place behind forever".

"Thanks mom that sounds wonderful. But before I change I see we are not alone".

Anne turned around and saw Doctor Director standing a respectful distance away. Both mother and daughter exchanged a knowing glance and Anne moved behind Kim as she approached the one-eyed woman.

"Nice to see you Director. Have you loosened up and ridden Will Du like the wild stallion he is?"

Betty had held back to allow the mother and daughter their reunion. She expected them to talk or do something for a while but she could tell that Kim was all business now. The vulgarity of Kim's comment caught her off guard at first but she regrouped and understood that she was being tested. Well Betty had testified before congress so being grilled by a former teen hero was child's play.

"No our relationship is strictly professional. I only sexual abuse our junior agents. Their younger and can get it up several times in a single night".

"Spankin. Are you looking for a new girlfriend or is there something I can do for you?"

"I thought perhaps there is something I could do for you".

"Like what?" Kim crossed her arms and hardened her glare.

"First off I wanted to know if you've had any contact from any of your former colleges".

"You know I haven't. I haven't seen or spoken to Ron or Wade in years. You would know more of their whereabouts and activity than me".

"Yes I do. Mr. Stoppable is on special retreat in Japan and Mr. Load disappeared soon after you were incarcerated. He went completely off the grid. No one has been able to find him or contact him in all this time".

"Good for him. So what is this offer you have for me?"

"I wanted to offer you a job".

"A job? Really? I though GJ's charter had rules against hiring convicted criminals?"

"I can't offer you field work but as I understand it you have completed your bachelor's degree in criminology?"

"Criminology and criminal psychology actually. It was dual major".

"Even better. I can offer you an investigative position. You'll be behind a desk but with your experience and background I think you can be an asset to GJ".

"Sounds like a good opportunity".

"I agree".

"I meant it sounded like a good opportunity for you to keep an eye on me. I can't imagine GJ is very happy a person with my training and abilities might be out there causing trouble".

"It has crossed our mind".

"Well then I guess I better make myself clear from the start then. I want nothing to do with you or GJ. I've served my time and now owe nothing to you or the justice system. I only ask that you stay out of my way".

"I understand your resentment Kim but…"

"You understand nothing. I did my bid for king, country, and the world and got put in here for it. I'm through serving others and now I'm in business for myself".

"All right but I must warn you that regardless of your past aid to GJ if you cross the legal line out there I will be forced to bring you in".

"What I do now is my own business. But if I do chose to cross that line and you want to stop me. You are welcome to try".

Betty and Kim stared knives at each other for several seconds before Anne stepped between them.

"If it's all the same to you Director, I would like to take my daughter home".

"Of course Anne. I wish you both the best of luck", Betty turned on her heel and strode away without looking back.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Anne.

"I just wanted to get the ground rules straight from the start. If you don't set specific limits with GJ they walk all over you. Now let's go home".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Present Day - Mount Yamanouchi, Japan)

The path wound up the mountain to the small temple. The blossoms of cherry trees filled the crystal clear air and the evening sun was just barely over the horizon as Yori reached the temple. The young Japanese woman slowed her jogging pace as she reached the open air shrine and bowed respectfully to the altar and to the individual who sat within.

The young master sat within in the lotus position with his hands resting on his knees and his eyes closed. He appeared in a meditative state at one with the universe.

Yori knelt down and steadied her breathing before speaking.

"Forgive my intrusion young master. I am sorry to disturb your meditations but this humble servant of Yamanouchi has news of importance to impart".

"Did I leave instructions for you to disturb me?" said the man without moving his body or opening his eyes.

"You did young master".

"Then you would have been sorrier if you hadn't".

Yori appeared frightened for a moment before Ron Stoppable turned his head smiled and winked at her.

"Your American humor surprises me yet again".

"So whasup", said Ron as he pivoted to face the kneeling Yori.

"You requested that Yamanouchi monitor Kim Possible's incarceration status. I am pleased to inform that today is the day she is scheduled to be released".

"That is good. I feel that her release is rather timely".

"Is there a problem young master?"

Ron lithely leapt up and moved to the edge of the shrine and pointed out to the setting sun and the blazing image it provoked on the horizon.

"I sense a storm is approaching. A great tempest that could encompass the world and like so many tempests in my life before it, I sense Kim Possible is a part of it".

"Is she part of the solution or the problem?"

"Excellent question. But if I know my Kim she may very well be part of both".

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

(Present Day – Site unknown)

"It's confirmed. Kim Possible is being released from prison today".

"Of course she is. It is exactly as I calculated".

"She could come after us? If she has used this time in prison to put any of that day in perspective, she may suspect someone's outside involvement".

"I'm counting on it".

"Why are you allowing it? She is dangerous and unpredictable. She could undermine the entire operation".

"Yes Ms. Possible is dangerous but she is hardly unpredictable, never the less I have eagerly awaited her release".

"Why?"

"If I am to conquer this pale pathetic orb of dirt, then I chose to do so while being challenged by at least some kind of competent opposition".

"But…"

"Do not worry my pet. Six years ago I was forced to accelerate my plans due to Dr. Possible's research. But our operation that day went off flawlessly and our greatest enemies were eliminated. It even bore the unexpected fruit of incarcerating the young Ms. Possible".

"Thanks to me".

"Yes my dear thanks to you. Six years ago we were but two, but now we are legion and our reach encompasses the globe. No one even remotely suspects our presence and yet we have infiltrated all levels of government, industry, and military infrastructure. Let Ms. Possible and any who would aid her throw their pitiful might against us".

"I have faced Kim Possible before and lost. Many other would be conquerors have said the same thing you have just said and been laid low by her".

"I mean no disrespect my dear but you and the individuals you mentioned are not me. I am the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end. The day I chose to step upon the world stage this pathetic planet will tremble and topple before me. I am the living embodiment of the destroyer, the shatterer of worlds".

"Ooooooh, and not to mention incredibly sexy as well".

"That too".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Present Day – Site unknown)

The air conditioners were working overtime and the bunker was a little chilly but the computers and the circuits liked the cool air. His lab had expanded many times over the years but he still managed to cram every inch of it with stuff. He was never lacking for something to do but he was incredibly lonely.

With his satellites, monitors, cameras, hacks, viruses, and passcodes there was almost no place on the planet he couldn't get too. But he only saw it from a distance. He could never really go there. Hell he was more introverted now than ever before.

Something was happening out in the world, something truly nefarious that he could never quite get a lock on. Every time he seemed to be closing in it just up and vanished like fog in the sun. It was so damned infuriating.

He needed more agents in the field. He needed her.

He glanced up to the screen and watched the view from the prison cameras he had tasked into weeks before. Kim Possible and her mother were about to walk out of prison together.

Kim looked the same but also different at the same time. Yes she was older but she was also more than before or something like that. He couldn't quite quantify it but Kim looked to be exactly what he needed. But did he have the right to bring her back in. She had been through so much already. What if all she desired was a normal life and a chance to forget?

He needed to know what she wanted to do before he could involve her in his plans. There was only one person who could pull off that task. Fortunately he hand her phone number.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She liked the feel of the warm water as it cascaded down her body. She hated staying in the pathetic little hotel but it was the closest one she could find. At least the showers worked and the hot water seemed to last a long time.

Probably better than the showers in the prison but then again at least they were group showers. At least you could get some eye candy while you cleaned off. Hah! What was she thinking? Even after just turning thirty she was way hotter than any of the skanks that might be in there. Quality over quantity, but fortunately she had an abundance of both.

She was just rinsing her long dark hair when she heard her phone's ring tone go off. What the fuck? Who would be calling her now?

She stepped out of the shower and used a minute burst of her power to evaporate the water from her skin and hair. The hotel room was dark as the shades were pulled and the lights were off. She strode naked across the room to the dresser and picked up her phone.

A pale green fiery light illuminated the room from her raised hand as she looked to see who had called. The caller ID was blank and no number was listed.

'Why the subterfuge? I know it's you nerdlinger', she thought as she keyed the response and opened the message.

The message was only a single word, ' _Today_ '.

"It's about fucking time", she put the phone down and began to get dressed. It was time for her to go to work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anne and Kim stepped through the final prison gate and walked out in the open ground beyond. Kim stopped to breath in the dry but fresh air. She didn't know what she was expecting to feel but the only emotions she felt were relief and anticipation.

She wore a pair of way too tight jeans but her mom hadn't correctly guessed her size. She wore a red shirt with a small black vest which were also way too tight because Kim had filled out during her prison term. Kim looked more like a runway model than a woman just walking out of prison.

"So what are your plans now?" asked Anne.

"I start over and if I'm right, make someone pay".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes:

 _Well there it is the beginning of a whole new story. Kim is back and she is ready to get down and dirty. The action will pick up fast as Kim discovers the world has changed some since she went inside._

 _I tried to place as many interesting plot bunnies out there to tantalize the readers and to give some hints of things to come._

 _I want to offer a special thank you to my wonderful wife for her inspiration and instrumental aid with this story._

 _Since this is the start of my first, total ours, original work I would love any feedback so feel free to review to your hearts content._


	2. Mother Knows Best

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _ **The beginning is the most important part of the work (Plato)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim Possible stared out the window of her mother's car at the passing scenery. They had been driving for a few hours traveling from the state penitentiary to the small town of Littleton. It was barely a small speck on the map but it was out of the way and in desperate need of a good medical specialist. Just what the doctor had ordered.

Her mother had come here soon after leaving Middleton to escape from the press and everyone else who, in the aftermath of the Middleton tragedy, had never let her family rest. The main hospital in Middleton had been forced to let her go due to the bad publicity and she had opened her own small pediatric practice in Littleton. It was a huge step down for a world renowned brain surgeon but it still left her able to practice medicine and help people.

"I can't believe you picked me up in a Toyota Corolla", said Kim as she continued to stare out the window.

"I learned over the last few years that it's best to be inconspicuous", said Dr. Anne Possible as she tapped the car's steering wheel in mock affection.

"Is that why you're sporting the brunette look?" said Kim as she reached around and gently felt her mother's hair.

"Same principle my dear, the red was just way to distinctive. Besides at my age it was just starting to go grey so I would have been doing something about it anyway", said Anne with a mischievous wink. "But if the hair and the car are way too ordinary for you then maybe I can fix at least one of those things".

Anne scanned the surrounding area and finding it devoid of traffic she gently pushed Kim back into her seat and leaned back herself before pushing a button on the bottom of the steering column. Kim felt the car jump slightly as panels rotated and gears shifted as the car's framework and paneling changed right before her eyes. When the transformation was complete Kim now sat in a new Mercedes-Benz Coupe.

"Wow!"

"Your brothers built it for me so I could fool the idiots too noisy for their own good".

"Spankin. Speaking of the tweebs, where are they now and did they build one of these for me?" Anne cast a disapproving eye at her daughter when she referred to her brothers by their childhood nickname.

"Your brothers are just beginning their fall semester at MIT. They told me to send you their love and they hope to see you over Thanksgiving break where you can regale them with your prison life horror stories".

"Hah! I could tell them stories that would scare them back into the womb".

"Heavens No! Remember whose womb you're talking about", cried Anne as both mother and daughter broke out in laughter.

"You didn't answer my question on whether they built me one of these", hinted Kim as she tapped the dashboard.

"Well talk about that later", said Anne offhandedly which piqued Kim's curiosity.

As they entered Littleton proper Kim looked out at the small houses and tiny shops that seemed to constitute most of the surrounding infrastructure. They stopped at a traffic light and Kim mused whether or not this was the only one in town. As they sat waiting a motorcycle pulled up alongside of them.

'Wow!' thought Kim as she gazed at the bike and its rider.

The bike was sleek dark black and green Kawasaki Ninja that appeared to be tricked out with numerous mechanical upgrades for speed and control. She imagined her brothers would have loved to get a look at this bike. However, it wasn't the bike but the rider that caught Kim's eye.

The woman was decked out in tight black riding leathers including pants, boots, jacket, and gloves. She wore a black helmet with a tinted visor that obscured her face but Kim could see long silky black hair flowing from the backside of the helmet. Intricate green thread work ran up the side of the boots and on her gloves in patterns she didn't recognize. All the leather couldn't hide the rider's wine colored blouse or her ample bosom. She guessed her height to be at around five foot nine or ten of what appeared to be all rocking woman.

Kim was staring with open mouthed wonder as the rider turned her head and seemed to look back her. Kim's mouth slammed shut with an audible click as a slight blush rose to her cheeks as she realized she had been caught ogling.

The light changed and the rider looked back ahead and accelerated rapidly ahead of their car. Kim leaned out the window and watched as the woman rose up from the seat as she accelerated. The leather pants did nothing to hide the girl's incredibly sexy ass as she sped away.

"Damn Littleton is starting to look better and better", mused Kim as she sat back in her seat.

"What was that dear?" asked Anne.

"Oh, nothing mother".

Anne Possible 's Doctors office was a small five room building right in front of her three bedroom two and half bath house. She had one receptionist and two part time nurses that assisted her with her pediatric practice. Her office was closed the day of Kim's release so when they arrived they went directly to the house. The house was surrounded by a small copse of trees that almost totally hid it from view.

Anne took Kim on a quick tour of their home before fixing dinner and finally showing her the small bedroom she had prepared for her. The room had a single walk-in closet, bed, desk, and dresser. Kim declared it perfect. Anne initially apologized for its small size but Kim had quickly reminded her that it was much nicer than any prison cell.

Mother and daughter enjoyed a quite dinner together before Anne pleaded exhaustion and that she needed to get some rest because she had patients coming in the next morning. She promised that they would talk more tomorrow and went off to her room for bed. Kim retired to her room and lay down but felt she was too keyed up to sleep just yet and wondered if she could find a place in Littleton a little bit livelier.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The bar was called Moe's Tavern and consisted of one long wooden bar with five rickety chairs and three tables. Kim was dressed in high heels, a short black mini-skirt, flimsy spaghetti strap red top, and her red hair hung loose around her shoulders. She definitely presented the image of a woman on the prowl. Dressed to the nines and a fat lot of good it was doing her.

The bar staff consisted of one skinny, young, and freckled waitress with one elderly male bartender. There was a man and woman quietly arguing at a corner table and one old man almost asleep at the end of the bar. Kim figured she would put George Thorogood's song to the test and ordered one bourbon, one scotch, and one beer.

She sat and drank the first round of drinks hoping for something to happen even though she wasn't quite sure exactly what. When she finished the second round of drinks she was mad at George and convinced she was just wasting her time. Picking up her purse she threw some money on the bar and stepped around the now snoring man to visit the ladies restroom before she went back home.

When she was finished she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and slowly shook her head.

 _'Yeah I'm hot, but I have no idea what I'm doing here'_ , thoroughly disgusted with herself she turned to leave.

Just as she was about to reach the door to the bar it burst open and the woman from the motorbike, earlier that day, stood there still dressed in her riding gear. Kim looked at her own reflection in the woman's tinted visor as the stranger closed the distance between them. The woman was lightning quick as she grabbed Kim's arms and pressed her back against the wall of the bathroom. Kim tried to fight but the woman was incredibly strong and with one hand she pinned both of Kim's arms high above her head.

Kim changed her tactics and attempted to utilize her legs but the woman pressed her body right up against hers and didn't allow her any space to counter. The hard leather of the woman's clothing rubbed and scarped against Kim's all too thin clothing creating a delicious tactile friction as she felt her breasts ache, her nipples harden, and the distinctive and familiar tingle of arousal arise from between her legs. What the hell is wrong with me? Since when did I become so pathetic that I get turned on being attacked in a woman's bathroom?

"I'll scream. I promise", warned Kim as her physical struggling slowed down but her heart rate increased. Scream, really Possible? Since when did you become such a damn submissive all of a sudden?

The helmet in front of her face merely nodded in apparent agreement to Kim's threat but Kim couldn't see the woman's face; only her own startled expression stared back at her.

The woman wedged one of her knees between Kim's legs and forced them apart. The knee pressed up against Kim's sex causing an uncontrollable moan to escape her lips before she could stop it. The woman reached up and used the hand holding Kim's arms to take off her other glove. The gloveless hand then moved to the trapped girl's left knee and she felt the woman's fingernails gently scratching their way up her thigh. This woman knew what she was doing and her nails raked upwards with the perfect balance between tickling and pain that drove Kim nearly insane with pleasure.

The knee was slightly withdrawn and the hand now moved to cover Kim's panty clad sex and it rubbed gently but firmly back and forth. Kim tried to secure her mind like a safe from these sexual sensations but her body picked the locks. She felt herself begin to push back against her attacker and it was obvious she was trying to increase the pressure and not to get away.

The woman released Kim's arms and on their own they dropped and wrapped themselves around the woman's shoulders as she used that leverage to further press herself into the exploring hand. The visor showed Kim's face and she watched herself give in to the pleasure of the woman's touch. A finger ever so gently playfully slipped inside her underwear and moved the garment aside but the questing digit merely circled Kim's center avoiding the contact she so desperately needed.

"Please…I need you too…please", she panted as her body rubbed up and down between the woman and the wall.

The helmet merely tilted at a mocking like angle as if saying 'Tell me how much you want it'.

Kim watched her expression in the visor of the helmet harden and heard herself actually 'growl' as she wrapped her legs around the woman viciously grinding herself against the hand that invaded her most private place.

For just a second clarity of thought descended on Kim as she glanced over the woman's shoulder to the door beyond. Anyone could walk in and find them like this. Here she was with her arms and legs wrapped around this woman who had her hand stuffed between her legs. Rather than kill the moment the chance of being discovered added fuel to the fire of her desire like gasoline to an open flame.

"Please I'm begging you…I need you inside me", whispered Kim into the side of the helmet.

As if sensing her great need of release the questing fingers of the hand finally moved between the tender folds of her skin. The woman's thumb rubbed Kim's clit in smooth but hard circles as fingers pushed their way deep inside her. The contact was almost more than she could bear and she threw back her head as she used her arms and legs to ride up and down her lover's body.

Kim had never felt anything like this before. Not in high school with the caring but inexperienced fumbling's she and Ron had engaged in nor the escapism of her prison dalliances. She had been living on a razor's edge for so long and this was surprising, raw, elemental, welcome, and a bit outside her control. In prison it had been necessary to be in control all the time and she had forgotten the joy of surrendering that control even if just for only a little while.

As the wave of her climax approached she tried to remove her lover's helmet to get a look at their face but she couldn't get a grip while in the throes of her sexual thrashings. When her muscles began to tighten and tense she knew her release was at hand and she threw back her and fulfilled her promise.

She screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim's scream woke her from her sleep as her muscles jerked and clenched in post orgasmic bliss. She lay with one arm thrown up over her head and the other lay across her abdomen with one hand shoved down between her legs, rubbing furiously. She panicked for a moment when she didn't recognize where she was. Then she began to remember that she was in her mother's house. This was her room where she had been contemplating going out last night when she must have fallen asleep.

"Oh my freaky god!" It had all been a dream. Had she really been dreaming about having rough sex with a complete stranger? At least it was great sex with a stranger.

Am I really so desperate that I'm diddling myself on self-indulgent fantasies about someone I just saw for a few seconds yesterday.

"I am such an idiot", said Kim a she slapped her palm into her forehead. Too late she realized she had used the wrong hand to do that as her forehead came away wet and sticky. The ridiculousness of the whole situation tickled her to the point she began giggling and then laughing.

"It doesn't matter. I'm free!" she squealed in mirth as she kicked her feet and waved her arms in exclamation. Her bed sheets were tossed and thrown around in her mad wrestling as she climbed from the bed. Kim swayed and staggered a bit before she got her feet underneath as her muscles were still tingling and clenching from her sexual release.

"Damn, I needed that. Now I need a shower".

After a long needed shower and fresh set of shorts and a t-shirt Kim wandered into the kitchen and fixed herself a bowl of cereal and milk. What time is it? She looked at a wall clock and saw it was almost eleven in the morning. Damn, I slept longer than I thought. Well it's not like I'm on a prison time table anymore.

The sound of a door bell startled Kim for a moment before she realized it wasn't some sort of alarm. I'm way to jumpy right now she thought as she walked through the house to the front door. Opening it she found a Federal Express delivery girl waiting with a small white package. The girl was Kim's height with short spikey blonde hair sticking out from under a brown cap. She was dressed in brown shorts that were almost indecently short and a FedEx shirt with at least half the buttons undone leaving an ample portion of her breasts exposed.

Wow! For a small town Littleton was definitely a happening place.

"I have a package for a Dr. Anne Possible", said the girl with a charming smile and playful wink.

She's flirting with me, thought Kim. Damn girl, where were you last night when I needed you.

"I'm her daughter. I can take it".

"Please sign here", the girl handed Kim a pad with the package receipt document on top.

"I don't have a pen", said Kim as she indicated her shorts and t-shirt. The girl looked Kim's body over appreciably before pulling a pen from her shirt and handing it over. Kim signed the document and handed it back along with the pen. The girl took the pad and handed Kim back a copy and the pen.

"Keep it honey, you might need it more than me". The girl turned on her heel and sashayed away with a definite over exaggerated sway of her hips.

Kim continued to admire her as she walked back to the delivery truck and the girl waved and blew a kiss before getting in and driving away. Kim reached down and picked up the daily newspaper, closed the door, and then went back to the kitchen and sat the package down before returning to her room. She sat the pen down next to her purse before going back to finish her cereal and read the paper.

After Kim had left her room the pen slowly changed, transforming into an almost liquid like form that flowed up into her purse and disappeared inside of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The blonde Fed Ex girl pulled her delivery van out onto the street and drove slowly away from the Possible residence. She looked down at the actual FedEx delivery driver as he lay unconscious on the floor of his van.

 _'The drugs should wear off soon and he won't remember a thing'_ , thought the girl as a wicked smile spread across her face. Mission accomplished, triumphant as always.

An annoying ringing tone spoiled her mood as she realized someone was pinging her phone.

"Incredibly sexy woman speaking".

" _Is it done_?" The voice on the phone was all business and its tone disappointed her.

"Yes it's done. Your little pen is delivered and Kim is now tagged. You're welcome by the way".

" _Continue your surveillance but do not allow yourself to be discovered_ ".

"As if I would? You know there are lots more productive and pleasurable things I could be doing for you right now than babysitting your pet hero project".

" _We'll play later. For now we need to assess exactly what Ms. Possible plans to do. That is your present priority_ ".

"Yes oh supreme one", the girl's tone was laced with sarcasm.

" _I apologize for the drudgery of your present assignment. To make it up to you I will allow you the pleasure of Killing Ms. Possible when the time come_ s".

"Cool", and suddenly the girl was happy again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anne Possible stepped back in the house to find Kim sitting on the kitchen counter eating cereal and deeply engrossed in reading the newspaper.

"Welcome back sleepy head. I didn't wake you when I left because I thought you deserved a chance to sleep in late today".

"Thanks mom. Is everything all right with the kids today?"

"An ear infection for a toddler and a touch of croup in an infant, nothing Earth shattering. I had my nurses clear my afternoon so I could spend it with you". Anne stepped up to the counter and opened a cabinet taking out a bottle of red wine and a glass. Kim watched as her mother opened the bottle and poured herself a liberal portion of the wine.

"Anything special you have planned for us to do?" asked Kim as she climbed down from the counter and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Just talk. Would you like a glass?" Anne held up her wine glass.

"No thank you. Isn't it a little early for that?"

"Not today", said Anne as she sat down opposite Kim.

"Is something wrong?" Kim could see that something was troubling her mother.

"No…maybe…I don't know…we'll see. What do you plan to do now? With your life I mean?"

"Kicking me out already?"

"No. You can stay if that is what you want. I just didn't figure that would be what you wanted to do".

"Well I'm going to have to find some way to earn some money. I left everything I had in prison with the people I left behind. I just didn't feel right taking anything from that place".

"You still have your college fund".

"I do? I thought you would have used that for the boys or something else".

"No, your father and I had separate funds for each of you. Yours is still there. It's only a couple of hundred thousand dollars but it's enough to make a fresh start. I left it alone so it's done nothing but earn interest since you went in".

"Thanks mom. But all that money is a matter of public record and traceable. You don't happen to have any money that's off the books do you?"

"Why would you want money like that?" Anne's look had hardened and the intensity of her mother's stare caused Kim to almost shiver.

"I'm not sure I should tell you", Kim did her best to look unintimidated but Anne, like all mothers, had a way of getting under her children's skin. Anne drained her wine glass in one large drink and set her glass down with a loud audible clink.

"Come with me", Anne got up and stepped out of the kitchen toward the back of the house. Kim put her cereal bowl in the sink and quickly moved to follow her mother.

They stepped out the rear door into the back yard which consisted of a large flower garden and, like the front, was surrounded by trees. Anne stepped through the garden by walking on a narrow gravel path until she came to a small clearing between two trees. There on the ground nestled between several flowering plants was a tombstone.

The words on the headstone read _'James Timothy Possible beloved husband, father, friend, and scient_ ist'. Kim stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the marker as Anne knelt down in front of it and ran a single hand over the lettering.

"I didn't think there was anything left to bury", whispered Kim as she knelt down next to Anne.

"There wasn't. This is just his marker. It didn't feel right putting it anywhere else so I placed it here".

"I'm so sorry mom. I tried…" Kim had long since thought she had cried all she would ever cry over her father's death. But now faced with his marker she felt fresh tears on her face.

"It not your fault Kim", Anne grabbed her daughters chin and turned it to face her. "It's not your fault".

"But I always saved the day. Except for my own father on that one awful day, and then I went and killed someone".

"If you hadn't I would have".

"What?" Kim couldn't believe her ears or the expression on Anne's face.

"Sweetheart I was a brain surgeon. I know how to put people back together and I how to take them apart. If I had caught the bastard who had taken my James from me, no power on this planet could have saved him. I know about pain and hate as much as you do my dear".

"I understand that. But…I think there was more going on in the Space Center that day and I believe dad was killed for it".

"Are you certain?"

"No but there a few unanswered questions that I want to pursue".

"Finding out won't bring him back Kim".

"No it won't but I have to know. I have to try".

"You've just gotten out of prison and you've got the chance for a whole new life ahead of you. He would want you to be happy and not dwelling on the past".

"I'm sorry mom. I have to find out, even if I have to risk going back to jail. I'll never be happy unless I know I tried".

Anne turned back to James's marker and ran her hand once again over the words on the stone. Fresh tears ran down her face and she nodded to herself as if making a decision.

"Well she is our daughter but I blame you more", said Anne to the stone. "My sweet James, I miss you so much".

"I miss him too", said Kim as she hugged Anne and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Come with me my dear. There is something I need to show you".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Anne led Kim back to the house but instead of going to the rear door she went to the middle of the back wall. She touched a brick and moved it aside to press a button beneath. Kim jumped sideways as a section of the ground next to them dropped away creating an angled access to a basement she didn't know was there.

Anne descended down the grade and Kim followed into a dark unlit cellar of some sort. After a second or two of darkness lights began to flicker on and a wide rectangular basement was revealed. Along one wall was a long bench like work area with many computers terminals and large screens. Opposite this wall was a stairway that must lead to the house above and a ramp that must lead to the drive way. Several lockers and cabinets ran around the room and two doorways led off into smaller connecting rooms. One large and two smaller work tables filled the center of the room and a large tarp covered object sat on the ramp leading up to the driveway.

"What is this place?" asked Kim as she followed Anne deeper into the room.

"This was your brother's playground", said Anne as pressed a button on the wall and the yard access way they had entered from closed behind them.

"You let them build this".

"If I hadn't they would have just built this somewhere else. At least this way I got to monitor their insanity".

"I'm so sorry I missed them growing up and going away to college", said Kim as she began walking around the room inspecting her brother's handiwork.

"They may have built this place to work and play in but in truth I think they made it for you".

"Me! Why?"

"They know you like I know you. They figured you would get out one day and when you did that you would most likely pick up right where you left off. Everything here is for you, Kim", Anne opened up one of the lockers and inside were an array of women's clothing.

Kim came over and began opening the various lockers and cabinets to find a treasure trove made just for her. Some of the clothing was practical and some even stylish. There were also combat tactical gear, all weather clothing, even fire resistant and bullet proof outfits, and light battle armor.

Some cabinets contained climbing gear, grapnels, knives, batons, electronic trackers, microwave surveillance gear, portable radar, tasers, and firearms ranging from small arms, automatic weapons, to flame throwers.

"What in the hell would I need a flame thrower for?"

Kim opened another cabinet which contained cosmetics, wigs, bodysuits, and clothing ranging from uniforms to all manner of disguises. She pulled out an extremely skimpy outfit that consisted of a G-string and pasties.

"A stripper wouldn't be caught dead wearing this. What did they think I would do with this?"

"Entertain a friend?" suggested Anne. "You know I do have dreams of being a grandmother one day".

"Yeah right", Kim scowled at Anne.

"Well your brothers were young growing boys", laughed Anne.

"When I see them again I'm going to discuss with them their tastes in woman lingerie and then thank them big time. This is wonderful. All of this will enable me to start so much sooner than I expected and it will…" Kim saw the worry and fear written all over her mother's face as she stopped her joyful tirade.

"I'm sorry I know you're worried but…"

"You can take care of yourself. I know that. I just don't want to lose you again".

Kim embraced Anne and her mother hugged her so tightly Kim almost couldn't breathe. They stood holding each other for some time until Anne pulled away.

"Promise me that you will be careful".

"I will. I promise".

"Well then there is just one more thing", Anne moved over to the tarp covered object and pulled away the covering. Beneath was revealed a beautiful black refurbished Honda CBR 1100XX Blackbird motorcycle.

"Your brothers fixed this up for you. It's only a 2005 model but they upped the suspension, increased the horsepower, and added a few extra offensive and defensive features I'm sure you'll like".

"Oh my god! They had this made for me", yelled Kim as she knelt down and ran her hands over the bike with almost worshipful reverence.

"Some idiot who didn't know how to ride it, wrapped it around a telephone pole and the boys bought it cheap and fixed it up. Not bad for a pair of tweebs".

"Not bad at all. I'm really going to have to find some way to thank them".

"Finding out why your father was really killed would be a good start", said Anne as she knelt down next to Kim.

"Agreed and I think all this new gear could use a test run", said Kim as she gestured around the entire room.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I was reading in the local newspaper that Lowerton was having some gang related crime problems. There is some new powerful criminal gang there dealing in drugs, weapons, extortion, and even some violence against the police. They appear insulated and local law enforcement has been unable to effectively deal with them".

"They sound nasty", said Anne whistling slightly.

"Nasty or not, nobody would ever have tried something like that so close to us when I was working out of Middleton".

"Probably. Maybe you need to introduce them to the new Kim Possible".

Kim looked around the room inventorying her supplies, smiled, and patted the seat of her motorcycle.

"Yes I really should do that".

 _Author's Notes:_

 _Kim's new role out begins. Expect to see more of our girl stepping out into the big bad world._

 _I wish to thank everyone who reviewed my first chapter and by all means keep the thoughts coming. Your thoughts help me and make this story better for everyone._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Violent Introductions**_


	3. Violent Introductions

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 ** _Violence_** _ **may seem like an easy solution, but it has never been a problem solver. Eventually it catches up to you, and ruins a person's perspective of you.**_ _ **(unknown)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

It was Thursday night and Brent Ivey known as 'Slick', the first lieutenant of the _Delta Verdes_ , entered the bar feeling on top of the world. The _Verdes_ were the top criminal gang network in Lowerton. They specialized in extortion, protection racquets, drugs, money laundering, and the occasional targeted hit.

Brent had earned his nickname Slick because no matter what crime the authorities tried to stick him with he slipped out of it clean and free. At thirty years of age he was a lifelong criminal and had been relatively successful, thus his high gang position.

Thursday nights were special because that was the night he collected most of the gang's protection money from local businesses that they were extorting. The last business on that list was the bar known as Ted's Place.

Ted's place was a two story bar with an open air large main room, long wooden bar, and a small intimate second story balcony area. The place was an older and out of the way joint that was right on the edge of the _Verdes_ territory. Slick liked it because it wasn't a dive and the drinks weren't watered down. The gang had wanted to buy the place but the stubborn owner, Ted, wouldn't sell. So they extorted an obscene amount of money from him in the hopes that he would eventually take their offer.

Tonight Slick entered the bar followed by his three best bullyboys Vincent, Trey, and Marcus. Vincent was the best martial fighter the _Verde_ s had and Trey was their best blade fighter and firearm marksman. Marcus was a tall three hundred pounds of solid muscle, who towered intimidatingly over almost anyone they ever encountered.

This criminal quartet sauntered into the bar cool, confident, and successful having already collected a quarter of a million dollars this very evening. It was about 10:00 PM and the bar was almost totally deserted except for Ted the owner who stood working behind the bar and a lone girl standing/dancing in front of the bar's old time jukebox machine.

Normally the clientele at Ted's didn't attract Slick's attention but damn, this girl looked fine. She was about five and a half feet tall with long dark silky hair that flowed down her back. She was dressed in red heels with a tantalizingly short red leather mini. Up top she had on a short white blouse that left her midriff exposed and a red leather jacket. Slick couldn't see her face as she was facing away from him but the girl was shaking her fine ass like a pro dancer.

 _'All she needs is a pole and we'd have us a show'_ , thought slick as he directed his boys to an empty table near the bar. He sat a small brief case on the bar and motioned for Ted. The bar owner was a larger grey haired caucasian man in his early sixties who's face scowled in obvious disdain for Slick and his crew.

"I've come to collect this week's proceeds", smiled Slick.

Ted didn't say anything as he handed Slick and envelope. The gang leader opened the envelope and counted the money within and then placed it into the briefcase. Then he reached behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of bourbon.

"Put it on my tab", Slick took the bottle and the case back to the table his boys sat around. Vincent motioned with his eyes toward the dancing girl and made a lewd gesture with his hands indicating that she would be a good screw. His boys laughed as Slick sat down the case and bottle as he walked confidently over to the dancing girl.

Slick moved in and leaned on the jukebox as he finally got a look at the girl's face. Her skin was white with a cute rosy color and her eyes were beautiful olive-green in color. She was dancing to classic rock and made no indication that she had noticed his invasion of her personal space. Slick reached into a pocket and pulled out a stack of coins that he deftly laid out on the jukebox.

The girl scooped up the coins and began putting them in the machine and picking out songs. When she had exhausted all the coins and made her selections she finally looked up at slick and smiled. Her smile lit up the night like the sun. Damn this girl was fine, thought Slick as she turned and sashayed over to the bar. When she walked away, Slick's lecherous stare crawled up her legs and ass so closely it was like following a leech with vertigo. Slick followed her to the bar and slid onto the stool next to hers.

"Can I get you a drink?"

"What's it going to cost me?" The girl spoke for the first time and her voice sounded warm and full of playful banter.

"Just a few moments of your time and of course my pleasant company", Slick motioned to Ted for drinks for the girl and himself.

"I must warn you that I don't waste my time on little fish. You must be high up the food chain to keep my attention".

"Then I guess I qualify. See little lady, I'm the right hand to the boss of the _Delta Verdes_ and we own Lowerton".

Ted came and deposited two glasses in front of them and poured dark amber colored liquor into each. The girl scooped up hers and threw it back without a second thought. Slick licked his lips in anticipation. Yeah suck down that magic juice little lady and Slick will be feeding you something else to suck on later.

"What's your name?" asked Slick as he gingerly sipped his drink and indicated for Ted to refill her glass.

"Whatever you want it to be".

"Kinky. I see great things happening between us in the near future".

"Like what?" the girl asked with an almost childlike innocence.

"How about you sit on my lap and we'll talk about the first thing to come up", Slick leaned in to smell her hair and run one of his hands down along her barely covered ass.

"Talking sounds nice. What do you have to say that might interest me?" asked the girl as she began to rub her bottom into his groping hand.

Ted turned and looked back at his men, who were watching him and the girl closely, and gave them a big thumbs up gesture. His three guys all high fived each other as they were certain the girl would soon be entertaining all of them soon enough.

"How about music? I saw you dancing earlier so do you like new age or classic rock?"

"I don't like to limit myself when it comes to things such as music or sex. So I guess you could say I swing both ways".

"Sweet. But I like classic stuff much better than the new pop stuff. It's too trendy and cutsey for my tastes. Take that Taylor Swift girl for instance. She is cute and all but her music is all about breakups, feelings, blah, blah, blah. I like music with some cutting edge to it".

The girl turned and nuzzled her face into Slick's neck as one of her hands took his and guided it slowly up the inside of her thigh.

"I don't know, Taylor's music kinda reminds me of me. You know how _'I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream'_ ".

The hand guiding his up her thigh reached a small garter like belt and pulled forth a thin stiletto like blade. The girl's hand came up and jammed the blade down through the hand Slick had resting on the bar.

"How's that for cutting edge Slick?"

Slick howled in shock and pain for a second before the girl's other hand grabbed him by the back of the neck and smashed his face into the wooden railing of the bar. Blood sprayed from his shattered nose as he slumped to the floor, only held up by the blade that pinned his hand to the bar.

The girl reached in and puled forth the 9 MM handgun that she had noticed tucked into Slick's pants. She pulled the gun, slid back the action, and had it pointed directly at the table where the other three gang members were just finishing standing up from their chairs. All three men froze as they stared down the barrel of the gun. The girl's hand did not shake in the slightest and a small cruel smile began to spread across her lips.

"Guns, loose them now!" She ordered as she drew back the hammer on her gun. Marcus pulled a large revolver out from the back side of his pants and Trey pulled out two different guns from his shoulder and waist. Vincent turned opening his jacket to indicate he possessed no firearm. The girl motioned with her gun and the men tossed their weapons away into a corner of the bar.

The girl now stepped away from the bar and stood boldly before the three men who seemed to tower over her petite frame. She popped the magazine out the gun, cleared the bullet from the barrel, and tossed the gun away.

"Gentlemen allow me to illuminate the situation you find yourselves in and explain your options. I need to get some answers from your boss so you have some tough choices to make. One you can leave right now, whole and healthy, and I won't come after you. Two you can stay and try to help your boss, but I will deliver a world of hurt upon you. It's your choice but considering your lives and your crimes I'm really hoping you chose option two".

Trey, Vincent, and Marcus shared a single communal glance that conveyed their unanimous decision.

The girl's smile now spread across the entirety of her lips because she knew there was only one real decision men such as these could ever make. At just that moment the Jukebox began a new song.

"Ted I like this song so could you turn it up please?"

From behind the bar Ted picked up a remote control and pointed it at the Jukebox and Pat Benatar blared out into the bar.

 _Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history_

 _Of breaking little hearts like the one in me_

 _That's okay, let's see how you do it_

 _Put up your dukes, let's get down to it_

The room exploded into action. Trey drew a pair of knives and lunged for the girl. Marcus roared like a lion and charged. Vincent didn't move as he waited on the far side of the table from her.

The girl reached back to grab and toss a bar stool straight into Marcus's path. This forced the huge man to swing wide around the girl buying her a few precious seconds.

 _Hit me with your best shot_

 _Why don't you hit me with your best shot_

 _Hit me with your best shot, Fire Away_

Trey feinted a low lunge with knife in his right hand while circling in with a thrust from his left. The girl spun away from the right hand and lashed out with a high heel kick that knocked the knife from his left hand.

Trey altered his grip with the other hand and back slashed across the girls knees as she leapt over the attack. He moved his aim higher on the backswing and the girl caught his arm in an elbow lock. With surprising strength she twisted the arm causing him to turn with it to avoid the pain. This turn opened up his midsection as she kicked him directly in the groin. She followed up the kick with a knuckle shot to the throat causing him to drop the knife and grasp his throat in pain. Grabbing both of his ears in her hands she rammed his head down onto her upraised knee.

A hollow bone breaking crunch and a sorrowful moan followed her strike as Trey's body fell unconscious to the floor.

 _You come on with it, come on_

 _You don't fight fair_

 _That's okay, see if I care_

 _Knock me down it all in vain_

 _I get right back on my feet again_

The girl didn't have time to celebrate as she was bear hugged from behind by Marcus. She cried out in pain as the mammoth man lifted her off the floor in his bone crushing grip.

"How's that feel bitch!" snarled the ruffian as he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. In hindsight, that may not have been the best thing to do.

The girl rammed her head back into his face smashing his nose and causing him to release his grip just enough for her to escape. Without turning around she rammed her high heel into the instep of his right foot and then slammed her right elbow into his abdomen with rib breaking force. Then in an almost unbelievable feet of strength the girl reached back to grab Marcus and fling him over her shoulder onto the bar.

Then she jumped up and came down placing an elbow directly in the center of Marcus's chest. The behemoth only wailed in pain as he lay gasping for breath. Grabbing his enormous belt the girl slid him down the bar until he launched from the end crashing through the large window next to the bar's front door.

Then she turned to Vincent who had slowly walked around the table and, with his self-assured smile, assumed a fighting martial stance.

 _Well you're a real tough cookie with a long history_

 _Of breaking little hearts like the one in me_

 _Before I put another notch in my lipstick case_

 _You better make sure you put me in my place_

Vincent and the girl moved quickly circling each other as each searched for an opening in the others defenses. They traded several rapid fire exchanges culminating in a series of blocks, dodges, and misses. Vincent was taller and longer of reach allowing him to dictate the direction of the fight, so he drove the girl back into the bar. When her back finally came into contact with the wooden edge of the bar, Vincent redoubled his efforts with a flurry of rapid punches and kicks, as he left the girl nowhere to run.

She was forced to abandon all offensive action for a totally defensive posture as Vincent began to land several telling blows to her arms, shoulders, and legs. Sensing victory was at hand he set the girl up for the finishing blow.

 _Hit me with your best shot_

 _Why don't you hit me with your best shot_

 _Hit me with your best shot, Fire Away_

Following a jab kick from his left leg that she blocked wide extending her stance he countered with a right cross that he knew would end the fight. The girl didn't even try to dodge she merely extended her leg block and sank to the floor in a perfect cheerleading split. Vincent's punch passed right over her head to impact the hard wood of the bar. The agonizing sound of wood cracking and bone breaking was quickly replaced with Vincent's cry of distress.

She never gave him time to recover as from her prone positon on the floor she delivered powerful jabs upwards into his groin, again and again.

Vincent collapsed onto the floor pitifully grasping himself in pain as she snapped back to her feet as if someone had pulled her up by a rope. In a move that was part spite and part pity she leveled a kick at Vincent's head that ended his cries and left the bar surprisingly quite as the music from the jukebox ended.

Standing at the end of the bar Ted pointed his remote at the jukebox and the volume of the music dropped to a more reasonable level.

A shaky rattle from the bar now drew her attention as Slick had recovered enough to stand and was busily trying to free his hand from the blade that held him to the bar.

"Slick…Slick…Slick…" taunted the girl as she stepped over the bodies of his men and approached his side.

"What…do you want…you evil bitch?" Slick tried to talk around the blood that filled his nose and the obvious pain coming from his hand.

"Now Slick is that any way to talk to a lady", the girl slid up and sat on the bar stool next to him.

"Fuck you lady… Aaaaahhhhh!" screamed Slick as the girl reached up and placed her hand down on the blade driving it further onto his hand.

"I warned you about using bad manners to address a lady. Now we aren't going to have any more outbursts like that again are we?"

"No".

"No, what!"

"No mam", as tears slid down Slick's face from the pain.

"That's better. Now I'm going to ask you some questions about your friends in the _Verde_ s and you are going to provide me with answers. The amount of pain you will endure during these questions will be in direct proportion to how fast and how sincere I believe your answers to be".

The girl reached down below her skirt and produced a second blade like the one she had used on his hand. She slid up next to him and scraped the blade along the inseam of his jeans up to his groin.

"If I believe for one second that you are being untruthful to me, I will begin cutting off your most precious things. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes mam".

"Spankin let's begin!"

Over the next few minutes Slick answered all her questions, spilling his guts to keep her from spilling his. When the girl had the answers she wanted, she struck Slick on the back of the head with the blunt end of her blade and he collapsed like a wet taco. She ripped the other blade from the bar and his body crashed to the floor. She knelt wiping the blades on his clothes before sheathing them back under her skirt.

"You can call the police now Ted", as she rolled Slick over, pulled out his wallet, and pulled out all the cash that was in it of about 5,000 dollars. She retrieved the case from the table and opened it on the bar.

"Here is your money back and this is for the damages", she handed Ted the envelope he had given Slick and the cash she had taken off of him.

"Thank you but what about the rest?" asked Ted.

"Can you get the rest of the money back to the original owners?"

"Yeah", Ted closed the case and set it behind the bar.

"Thank you. You can tell the police whatever you want. I don't want to get you in trouble with them".

"Tell them what. I didn't see a damn thing. I was hiding out in the back room the entire time", the grey haired bar owner smiled and winked at the girl.

"Thank you again", as she smiled and stepped back over the bodies of fallen thugs moving towards the front door.

"Are you going after the _Verdes_ all by yourself?" Ted sounded genuinely concerned for the girl.

"Yes", the girl sounded confident and sure of herself.

"Are you sure that's wise. There will be a lot more than just four of them at their hideout".

"It's no big. Believe me; I've handled much worse than these lowlifes before".

"If I may ask, what do I call you?"

"Kim", the girl stepped out of the front door and climbed aboard her motorcycle.

"Oh to be thirty years younger", Ted looked longingly after the girl. "I guess it's time to call in the cops and begin the cleanup", Ted pulled out his phone and stepped into the back room for a broom and a mop.

Just as Ted stepped away, Trey managed to crawl to his feet and limped over to the corner where he had thrown his guns. He picked up one and pulled back the action as he staggered to the center of the room and sighted through the broken window at the back of the girl as she fired up her bike and began to pull away.

He never saw the woman who jumped from the second story balcony or the hand that struck him right behind the ear. The blow dropped him instantly and his gun clattered to the floor.

The woman rolled the body over to just make sure he was out and not dead. She glanced up to watch Kim as she sped away on the bike with her shapely ass meshing perfectly with the bike seat. A smile and a crude whistle of appreciation escaped her lips as she watched the bike and its rider disappear into the distance. She didn't need to hurry because she had already heard where the girl would be going.

Noticing a cigar poking out of the Trey's pocket she reached down and pulled it forth, bringing it to her lips she lit it with a burst of green flame from her finger.

"That's one you owe me princess", whispered the woman as she glanced around the bar making sure no one was there to see her. Just then her phone rang and with an annoyed growl she answered it.

"I'm busy".

 _"What is she doing?"_

"She's hunting".

 _"We need to make contact."_

"You don't sign my paychecks nerdlinger. I'm doing this pro-bono for you so we work according to my schedule".

 _"This is a waste of our time"._

"It's my time to waste. Besides I'm rather liking watching princess kick some ass. This is very educational for me and it might prove very helpful to us when the time comes to ask for her help".

 _"I don't think that's why you won't make contact. I think you're scared"._

"I'm not scared of anything!" shouted the woman into the phone.

 _"I think you miss her and you're afraid she will refuse to work with us"._

"You're deranged nerdlinger. The only thing I miss about her is whipping her skinny ass".

 _"You forget who you're talking too. I've monitored your activities these past six years and I know all about the string of red headed girlfriends you've left in your wake"._

"Shut it!"

 _"None of them were her were they?"_

"I'll call you when I have something to report. Until then don't fucking try to call me!" She ended the call and turned off her phone. The last thing in the world she needed was to be sexually psychoanalyzed by a computer geek who lived in a bunker. What really bothered her was that she didn't know if the little freak was right or not.

Well there was only one sure fire way to find out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes:

 _A shorter chapter than I usually write but it was a perfect place to stop so I cut it there. Don't worry the next one will be out soon enough._

 _Journeys of self-discovery are usually scenarios of pushing the limits of one's physical and mental envelope. This story is about rediscovering yourself after your world turns upside down. I will leave it to you, the reader, to determine just whose journey is most important, because Kim's isn't the only one we are going to be seeing._

 _The Song 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' was written by Eddie Schwartz and recorded by Pat Benatar in 1980._

 _Next Chapter: **Dark & Lonely Nights**_


	4. Dark & Lonely Nights

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _ **Loneliness is the poverty of self: solitude is the richness of self. (May Sarton)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim Possible stepped out of the motel shower and wrapped one towel around her body and used a second to dry her hair. The bathroom was small and the outer room not much larger but it would have to do. The hour was late and it was quiet in the motel except for the sounds of a dull news show on the television. The single bed in the room was totally covered with her clothing and equipment so she draped the towels over a chair next to the large black wig she had worn earlier that evening. Standing naked in the center of the room she looked at herself in the mirror. Obviously I'm not eighteen anymore, she thought.

The shower had helped but she was still a little sore from the bar fight and she had several black and blue bruises already showing on her arms, shoulders, and legs. Sloppy Possible, real sloppy. Work through the pain Kim, she thought as she studied the damage her body had taken. Remember you can do anything, you're father taught you that.

Moving to the bed she began arranging her tactical clothing and armor. It wasn't her super suit, designed by Wade Load, from years before, but it was made from reinforced Kevlar and titanium steel weaved fibers making it light and bullet resistant. Along with the fibers she had a covering of thin molded ultra-high density ceramics plates encased in soft malleable weave that protected her chest, back, thighs, shoulders, and arms. All put together the suit both protected her and enabled her to secure her varied equipment to any part of her body that she wished. Kim supposed she looked a lot like some rip off version of Bat-Girl with her red hair but no cape.

The entire ensemble was so form fitting that it prevented her from wearing anything underneath. She wondered if her hormone driven younger brothers had purposely designed the damn suit that way.

As she struggled into the too tight apparel she studied a map of Lowerton that was laid out on the bed. The headquarters of the criminal gang the _Delta Verd_ es was an abandoned shoe factory in a rundown industrial district. Slick had revealed the _Verdes_ managed their cash rooms, synthetic drug manufacturing, and weapon storage there. The place was secured with all manner of modern security features and a bribed city official that kept local authorities from investigating the site.

Kim didn't have a map of the factory's interior but she planned to use her ground radar and microwave sensors to scan the building before going in. She knew she needed to move on this place before word reached them about the gang members she had taken out and they moved or shut down their operations.

Makes for a long lonely sleepless night thought Kim as she began strapping on her weapons. She had tear gas canisters, tasers, thump grenades, flash bombs, knives, shock batons, and firearms. She felt her father's spirit chastising her for having to use firearms but since they were only loaded with rubber bullets she felt that he would understand.

It was still several hours before dawn when she was finally ready and she made sure no one was around to see her when she stepped out of the motel room. She was still on a bit of an adrenalin high from her earlier fight so there was a distinct bounce in her step as she climbed aboard her motorcycle and sped off into the night. It was time for Kim Possible to step back out onto the world stage.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ron Stoppable finished preparing the travel arrangements for the journey to America. He had planned this trip for some time now and even though this was his idea he still questioned its wisdom. Was this the right thing to do? Was this really the best way to help Kim? How would she react? Was he going too far? Was he not going far enough?

He could ask Sensei but he already imagined what the wise headmaster of Yamanouchi would say.

 _'The most epic journeys always begin with the taking a single step young Stoppable'._

"Yeah fat lot of good that does me now", murmured Ron to himself as he finished packing away the bag he was working on.

The smallest of motions drew his attention and Yori appeared and knelt at the entrance to his room.

"Everything is prepared young master. We can leave for the airport as soon as you wish".

"I guess there is nothing to do but to do it".

"Is something wrong young master?"

"I'm just mildly concerned about the supposed fiery temper of redheads".

"I believe you're planned approach to Ms. Possible is a sensible one", said Yori as she stood and smiled at Ron.

"Thank you. I hope you're right but it all depends on how much Kim has changed".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A woman watched from an isolated corner of the shoe factory roof. Where she stood was in a small dead zone in the _Verdes_ security perimeter, away from their cameras, motion sensors, and sentries. She hid well out of sight of the sentries in the pervading darkness of the roof, filing her finger nails. These guys were paranoid and professional in their preparations but she was a world class thief and had penetrated their defenses easily.

"We're losing the night rather quickly princess. Time to make your move before the sun comes up".

The hoodlums below had taken special care to conceal their operations and make the building appear abandoned and deserted. This early in the morning the streets around it were empty, quite, and dark. She however, could feel the vibrations of the power generators through the floor and the occasional sound of metal work or someone yelling instructions below.

She then noticed a grapnel line shoot out from a nearby building as it attached itself to a small roof ventilation stack. It made not the slightest sound and no alarms sounded after its placement as it was right in the middle of the dead zone as well.

'You knew where to come in, well played princess', thought the woman.

She watched as a barely visible form swung across the line and landed lithely on the roof. The figure, obviously a woman, quickly scanned the area and seeing no signs of detection secured her grapnel and pulled a pack off her back. From the pack she withdrew what looked like a laptop computer and a portable radar/microwave sensor array. She couldn't tell but she thought the woman was using her equipment to scan the building below. The woman seemed to study her displays for a minute making notations in a portable hand held unit.

Then she pulled more equipment from her pack and began setting it up next to the computer. Several small devices were placed and then she shoved the whole thing into the shadow of the roof overhang. Now hidden the woman once again scanned the area to make sure she was undetected and then sprinted off toward the far side of the roof.

Emerging from the darkness the original viewer crept over to the equipment the second woman had left behind. She found a small Electromagnetic Pulse generator set up on remote trigger, a signal scanner that was obviously being used to monitor the Verdes communications, and finally a signal jammer that must be meant to jam any signals once the fun begins.

"Excellent, now I just have to wait for the fireworks to start", said the woman as she settled in and went back to filing her nails.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hugo Segura was angry and bored sitting in his office. He was the boss of the _Delta Verdes_ and the one thing he hated most of all was waiting. Hugo had always been a man of action and he knew that patience was not one of the virtues he possessed. His drive for action had saved him when he fled the gangs of Nicaragua as a boy to surviving the drug cartels as a young man in Mexico. It had enabled him too successfully cross the American border and set up a new life of his own. Finally it had aided him in taking command of his own criminal gang in Lowerton. Now at 45 years of age he had been the boss of the _Verdes_ for five long years and he was the last person in Lowerton you wanted angry at you.

He was angry because he was stuck waiting for one of his lieutenants, who was very late. His two other head lieutenants, Julio Morales and Maria Araya, stood waiting on the far side of his desk hoping their boss's anger didn't spill over onto them. Julio was his night-chief in charge of all gang functions after dark and Maria was his day-chief presenting the face of his businesses during the daylight hours.

Between the guards, the people working the cash machines, and the drug lab there were about two dozen gang members present throughout the factory. Hugo felt secure but he didn't like it when his people failed to show up on time.

"Is there any news on the police scanners?" he asked.

"The only thing of note is an incident at Ted's place. Some kind of bar brawl but by the time we knew about it the police were all over that place", said Julio.

"Were our people involved?"

"We don't know yet but Ted's was scheduled to be the last pickup Slick made tonight".

"If that idiot started some drunken brawl and risked our weekly payments then I will have his head", snarled Hugo as his fist banged the top of his desk.

"We have this month's profits already bagged and ready. Should we go ahead and move it out?" Julio indicated two large attaché cases standing in the middle of the room.

"How much do we have?" asked Maria.

"Five million per case".

"We'll give Slick a little more time", said Hugo.

"Should we suspend operations this evening?" asked Maria. As day-chief usually Maria was gone and resting by now but with Slick absent Hugo had retained her.

"We haven't received any phone calls yet have we?" Hugo asked and Julio just shook his head in the negative. "Operations will continue until we have confirmation that our people are in police custody".

 _'Perhaps I can confirm that for you'_ , a woman's voice suddenly issued forth from the handset radio that sat on Hugo's desk. All three gang leaders stared at the radio like it was a venomous snake. Maria pulled out a pistol from her shoulder holster and Julio went to the door of Hugo's office and gave the 'All Alert' signal to the guards outside. Hugo leaned over and picked up the radio as he stood up from his desk.

"Who am I talking to please?"

 _'I am someone who is fed up with you and your groups activities. Your associates from earlier this evening have already been taken into police custody and the monies they stole have already been returned to the rightful owners'._

"I apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you. Why don't you come forward and we can address any concerns you have", Hugo walked over to a nearby cabinet and pulled forth a large handgun.

 _'Tempting but allow me to make a counter proposal. I have arranged for local law enforcement, the ones not under your control, to be notified of your activities here. Therefore as I see it you have two options. Option A is that you and your people lay down your arms, walk out of the building, and surrender to them when they arrive. Option B is that I leave you and your people bloody, beaten, and tied up with a bow for them'._

"I believe I would chose option C", said Hugo as he picked up the two cash filled cases and led Maria and Julio out of his office as about a dozen armed gang members clustered around him.

 _'My apologies sir but you don't have any other options '._

"Oh but I think I do. I will hunt you down quick but kill you slow. Once I know who you are I will then track down your family, friends, anyone who has known you throughout your small, pitiful, and pathetic life and do the same to them. What do you think of that?" spat Hugo into the radio.

 _'Bad choice'._

Suddenly the lights went out and all the machinery that was working in the factory shut down. A few seconds of inky blackness followed that was punctuated by the sounds of people crying out in fear and alarm. Then the emergency lights kicked in and the factory was now only partially illuminated with huge areas of deep shadow and darkness crowding around the small areas of light.

"Status report! Armory…finance…production…anyone", said Julio into his radio headset.

"She took out our communications", said Maria.

"Obviously. Julio get to the armory and secure it. Maria take the money and get out of here. I will hunt this bitch down", Hugo handed Maria the cases of cash as Julio led two guards away towards where the _Verdes_ stored their heavy weapons. Five guards followed Maria and five remained with Hugo when shouts and screams emerged from the far side of the factory.

From the cash counting rooms and the drug production labs a dozen gang members emerged coughing and choking as a white gas filled the area. Hugo watched through the shadowy light as they all began collapsing to the ground as the gas overtook them. A small chill of fear ran up Hugo's spine as he saw half his people cut down in just a few seconds.

"She's using some kind of tear gas on them", cried Hugo in alarm. "Break out the gas masks". One of his guards opened a case against the main office wall and began handing out hard plastic gas masks.

"Boss over here", shouted Julio from the dark entrance of the armory. "The armory is secure".

Hugo and his guards watched as Julio waved to them from across the large central room of the factory. As they were watching Julio was suddenly yanked into the darkness behind him as a hideous scream followed. Two of Hugo's guards who were nearest the armory raised their automatic weapons and began firing into the darkness Julio had just disappeared into.

"Stop firing into the armory you idiots" screamed Hugo just a moment too late.

The darkness of the armory was eclipsed by a bright light as a tremendous explosion ripped through the room Julio had vanished into. Seconds later several secondary explosions ripped down the length of the factory until finally the entire side of the building burst outwards in one gigantic blast.

Hugo, Maria, and their guards lay sprawled out over the floor as the far side of the factory was engulfed in flames. The explosion had knocked everyone down and left their senses reeling from the concussive force of the blast. The flames provided more illumination but the smoke, dust, and debris from the explosion created an eerie fog that lowered all visibility to little more than shadowy darkness.

Maria and her guards began staggering to their feet like puppets with their strings either cut or tangled. She reached down to pick up the cases of money when a dark form descended from above to crash down atop of her guards. She caught a glimpse of a woman in a dark leathery outfit with long red hair smashing one man into the ground with her legs. The woman snapped out with some form of baton in her left hand to catch a second guard across the face. Both men dropped flat as the woman ran through the middle of Maria's remaining men brandishing some form of gun in her right hand and firing off a burst of rounds into the smoke.

 _'What is she shooting at?'_ thought Maria as she dropped the cases and fumbled around pulling out her own gun. The dark figure didn't stop and she disappeared into the smoky darkness of the factory as Maria finally got her gun out and her remaining guards recovered enough to raise their own weapons.

Then a burst of automatic gunfire erupted from back across the factory cutting down one of her remaining men.

 _'She shot at Hugo's people to draw their fire'_ , reasoned Maria as her remaining guards started shooting back.

"Stop firing you fools! She's got you shooting at each other…" she yelled in desperation an instant before a volley of bullets ripped across her body from hip to neck nearly cutting her in half. She was dead before her body crashed to the factory floor.

Hugo watched as one of his guards went down in a spray of bullets and blood but his other four men emptied their magazines into the smoke and darkness of where the initial shots had come from. He thought he had heard a woman scream over the sound of gunfire and he hoped it was the intruder and she had died a horrible death. When the smoke cleared away enough to see, however all he saw was Maria and her people lying like broken toys across the floor.

Hugo and his men sprinted over to the body of Maria. He knelt over her body and reached down to touch her cheek. Maria had been with him since Mexico and had been one of the only true friends he ever had. Feelings of fear, rage, and survival warred in his mind as the factory burned around him and finally survival won out. Hugo stood up and picked up the blood soaked money cases.

"Let's get out of here. We'll come back and get this bitch when we have more of our people", Hugo told his guards as he led them out of the building into an alleyway away from the fire.

Hugo's specially armored SUV was at the end of the alley and all five men ran down it casting fretful glances at every shadow or patch of darkness they passed. The gang boss was already running the list of people that he was going to need to contact to contain this situation when a figure fell out of the night sky directly in front of him.

Initially Hugo didn't recognize that it was a woman until she stood up from the crouch of her landing. She was of medium height and her outfit was so black that it made her appear almost invisible in the alley's darkness. Long red hair was tied back behind her head and her face was partially covered by a thin black mask but olive-green eyes shown staring angrily back at him.

All four of Hugo's guards eagerly raised their weapons and only the hollow sounds of triggers being pulled was heard. His men had expended all their ammunition and each looked to each other in worry.

"A million dollars to the one of you who brings me her head", promised Hugo as he clutched the cases of money to his chest. His guards didn't hesitate at all, almost racing at the black clad woman.

She raised her arms and small electrodes shot forth into the first two men and tremendous electrical charges followed the tasers leads and both men collapsed in agonizing spasms to the ground. The third leapt over his fallen comrades with a rather competent spinning kick attack. The woman ducked beneath the blow and when he swung around she showed him what a fast kick was as she struck upwards from her squatting positon directly into his abdomen. As he leaned over in pain, she stood up grabbed his jacket and smashed her forehead into his.

The fourth guard drew up short as the woman released the man she had head-butted and he collapsed to the ground. Just as he was about to collect himself and charge in the woman spun and raised a single finger pointy directly at his face. He could see her eyes lock with his and her eyebrows narrowed in unspoken threat.

"Just don't", said the woman with menace dripping from her voice as she slowly shook her head.

He was young, strong, and arrogant but he was also a survivor, which meant without even sparing his boss a passing glance he turned and ran away.

Hugo couldn't believe his eyes as this brazen bitch just walked right up to him. He could see her more clearly now and he could tell that she wasn't much more than a girl. No child wanna be superhero was going to get the best of him. In a move that was rather athletic, for a man his size and age, he dropped the money cases and pulled his gun in one smooth flawless motion. His one thought, to put a bullet right between this upstarts eyes.

She caught his hand before he had even raised it half way up. Hugo was not a small man but this almost nothing of a girl twisted his wrist so hard the sound of bones breaking was deafening. She didn't stop twisting his arm as the pain drove Hugo to his knees before her.

The gang lord had never been humbled by anyone before in his entire life. Always he had been the predator, he had been the one looking down passing judgement on those weaker than him. Now he glared up into her eyes hoping to find more mercy than any of his victims had ever received. He found nothing but contempt in her eyes.

"You had better not miss senorita".

"I won't", she all but whispered to him.

The girl struck so fast Hugo never really saw the blow coming. Without releasing her grip on his arm she shifted forward and rolled her shoulder into the punch that shattered his jaw and sent him into oblivious unconsciousness.

Kim pulled the mask down off her face as she loomed over her fallen foe.

 _'A little rough there weren't you Kimmie-cub'_ , she imagined hearing her father say.

"I'm sorry daddy. It was something I had to do. I hope you don't think less of me".

The sound of a shoe scraping on the pavement drew her attention. Kim looked up in time to see the one gang member that she had let go come back out of the smoking factory carrying an assault rifle. The thug raised his gun and sighted down the barrel as Kim popped a knife from her wrist sleeve. This is going to be very, very close she thought as she drew her arm back to throw.

Just as she was about to strike her target was struck in the head by a falling brick from above. The man collapsed, like a sack of wet mice, right in front of her, dropping his gun.

Kim looked upwards at the roof of the factory in disbelief. Pulling out her grapnel gun she fired it up at the roof and once it took she retracted the line and shot up. Climbing onto the roof she noticed the flames were spreading and the building was now probably a total loss. She had landed very near the equipment that had been left on the roof.

Carefully scanning her surrounding she found no sign of anyone or anything that might have interfered with her below. There were several loose pieces of brick and stone on the roof but no sign of anything else. She didn't believe in coincidences. Someone had been up here and they had helped her. But who had helped her and why? The sound of approaching sirens caused her to frown in annoyance. No time to dilly-dally.

She began gathering up her equipment and placing it in her pack. When she was done and was about to slide down the grapnel line something lying on the roof caught her eye. She reached down and picked up a discarded and rather used nail file. It was still warm to the touch. Quickly glancing around she found the entire roof now covered in smoke so she would definitely not be able to search for additional clues.

"It couldn't be", Kim growled as she bent the nail fail in her hand.

Fleeing the flames and smoke she descended to the alley below and left the local authorities a parting message before racing over to her hidden motorcycle. She strapped one of the cases of five million dollars to the back seat of her bike and sped off as the fire department and the police began to arrive.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The original hidden observer stepped out from behind a nearby building as Kim drove away into the early morning light.

"It seems princess isn't a princess anymore. Good for you girl, it's about time. Have to start using a different moniker for her though. How about…Cupcake", she smiled at that. "Yeah now I can use a line about having my cupcake and eating it too", an image of Kim covered in icing popped into her mind causing her to shiver and shake her head to clear it.

"Stop it girl you're getting way ahead of yourself. But that is two you owe me now cupcake", she said as she pointed her finger at Kim's diminishing form.

Her phone rang as she climbed on her bike and put on her helmet.

"I told you not to call me".

 _'I was monitoring the battle from one of my satellites. Are you and Kim alright?'_

"Cupcake and I are fine nerdlinger. You should see her now. She's not the same old Cupcake".

 _'Did you make contact with her?'_

"Not directly. I'm telling you it's too soon. We need an angle that will get her past our shared histories".

 _'I agree and I've made arrangements for us to get some help in that area. I have a friend arriving from Japan who should be exactly what we need'._

"Japan? Who the heck are you…Ohhhhh No! Let's get something straight right now; I'm not playing second fiddle to that loser".

 _'I'm not asking you to play second fiddle to anyone. I'm asking you to trust me?'_

"Trust is like a cheap alcohol nerdlinger. Every time I've tried one I have been left vastly disappointed".

 _'You should concern yourself with figuring out Kim's next move'._

"Don't have too I know where she's going", she started her engine and pulled away before the police cordoned off the area.

 _'Really? So where is she going?'_

"Where any good investigator would go, back to the beginning".

Author's Notes:

 _I hope I haven't confused anyone with Kim's actions or her attitudes. I'm really writing her as an adult now and not a do-gooder teenager. Not to say that I'm deviating completely from Kim's upbringing but as I've tried to explain her world hasn't been rosy for her for some time and she has changed in order to thrive and survive like any reasonable person would._

 _Although people did die in this chapter, she was not the one directly responsible for any deaths. Sort of like a Batman like combat approach, in that the bad guys are responsible for their own actions._

 _I would love any feedback, thoughts, and reviews you have on this or any other part of the story._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Causes & Effects**_


	5. Causes and Effects

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

" _ **Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever and affect everyone in their path one way or another." (J.E.B. Spredemann)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Chief data analyst Krieg Sterling was an up and coming statistical engineer in Global Justice's new Global Threat Determination Section. He had been thrilled when Chief Administrator William Du had picked him for a special classified assignment. However when that assignment had turned into nothing more than tracking unusual criminal activity in the Middleton area he had been vastly disappointed. In fact he had become so bored that without orders he expanded his observations to include the cities surrounding Middleton but that too led to a boring dead end. Nothing was happening but simple and easily explained criminal activity that fell well below GJ's radar. That was until this morning.

Krieg had read the initial criminal report of the incident in Lowerton with the gang the _Delta Verdes_ and he had then followed up requesting additional information. He double and triple checked his sources, figures, and conclusions before he left his small working cubicle to head to the administrator's office. He told the administrator's chief assistant his name and the reason he was requesting an audience and was granted immediate entrance.

William Du was a ten year veteran of GJ and the chief Administrator of GJ's Special Projects Task Force. His section was responsible for answering the most extreme threats to global peace. At just under thirty years of age he was the youngest Administrator of any of GJ's multiple branches. He had a reputation as a no nonsense perfectionist that accepted nothing but the best from himself or the people under him. In other words he had a reputation for being a real pain in the ass.

Krieg entered Will's office and found the administrator standing up facing a wall of about a dozen different video screens. Data, news, and information were streaming and showing across the various footages while Will seemed to be taking them all in simultaneously and making notation in a hand held computer pad.

"What can I do for you agent Sterling?" The administrator spoke without turning his attention from the screens in front of him.

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir but you tasked me with collecting information on any unusual criminal activity in the Middleton area".

"I'm well aware of the tasks I've assigned to you. Are you here because you have discovered something important enough to disturb me?"

"Yes sir".

Will touched a control on his handheld unit as the wall of screens went dark and the silence that followed was almost unnerving. Will turned, walked slowly across the office to a small silver carafe and poured himself a cup of hot tea.

"Explain your findings".

"Late last night a series of highly violent incidents occurred in the city of Lowerton".

"Lowerton not Middleton?"

"Yes sir".

"Continue".

"A small to moderate size criminal gang organization known as the _Delta Verdes_ was targeted by what reports indicate was a lone female operative. The gang in question had been a problem for the local authorities over the past two decades but in the last few years it had upgraded its activities a considerable level".

"The local authorities were unable to contain or control them?"

"The gang appeared to be more organized then most with better leadership and some minor political connections that sheltered it from overt intervention".

"Continue".

"Local police reports indicate that the lone female operative utilized extremely violent but nonlethal tactics to take out the entire _Verdes_ leadership and their main headquarters in one night".

"So what you implying is that one woman completed twenty years of police work in one night?"

"So it seems sir".

"Non-lethal tactics you say. Were there any fatalities at all?"

"Yes sir, several. But initial reports seem to indicate they were self-inflicted by the _Verdes_ ".

"Or she tricked them into it", smiled Will and Krieg imagined that the Administrator already had some idea of what had transpired and who was responsible.

"That's why I assumed this incident met your unusual activity qualifier".

"You assumed correctly. Did the reports indicate the color of the woman's hair?"

"Funny you should mention that sir because there are conflicting reports that the woman in question had both black and red hair. This may indicate the possibility of two different women. It is a point of confusion in the reports".

"It's meant to be", said Will as he finished his tea and stepped up to Krieg and took the case research files from him. Will scanned the reports, interviews, and data sheets quickly with a critical eye.

"Return to your monitoring duties agent Sterling and follow up on these incidents in Lowerton. I will assign two field agents to your team to gather additional information. Excellent work".

"Thank you sir", Krieg smartly saluted and then turned and left Will's office. Will waited a few moments for agent Sterling to leave before he left his office and told his assistant too clear his afternoon schedule as he took the elevator to the Director's floor.

Will stepped off the elevator and moved through the management control center directly to the Director's office.

"I need to see the Director immediately", said Will to agent Sherman Delaney the Director's chief office assistant.

"She's on an important call to the Secretary General of the United Nations at this time. Perhaps I can fit you in sometime later this afternoon".

"That won't be necessary", Will continued right by agent Delaney without even breaking stride. He opened the door to the Director's office without even knocking and proceeded in while the assistant cried after him to please wait.

Doctor Elizabeth (Betty) Director sat in a huge chair behind her immaculately clean desk in a live video conversation with the UN Secretary General. Will entered and stepped across the room to stand next to a chair in front of her desk. Agent Delaney followed close behind trying to grab an arm but Will just pulled away with minimal effort.

"Excuse me Mr. Secretary", said Betty as she hit the mute button before turning to Will. "Administrator Du you had better have a good reason for entering my office unbidden".

"She's gone active", was all Will said.

Betty's eyes enlarged in surprise for a second before narrowing in thought. Will could see the Director contemplating his rather simple declaration.

"Take a seat Will. Sherman would you bring us a fresh pot of coffee", Betty turned back to the UN Official waiting on the line as Will sat in the offered chair.

"I'm sorry Mr. Secretary but matters that require my immediate attention have come up. I will follow up with you on what we were discussing as soon as I am able".

With that she cut the call and leaned forward with her elbows on her desk and her chin resting on her clasped hands. "So tell me Will…What's the sitch?"

Will Du offered an annoyed grunt in reply to his Director's obviously intuitively inferred question. In his classic unemotional even tone, he laid out what was revealed in the police reports on the apparent female vigilante's work in Lowerton. It took almost an hour to go over the complete set of reports and Betty asked several pointed questions throughout Will's analysis.

"In conclusion Director, the local authorities recovered evidence of extensive illegal drug and weapon operations as well as millions of dollars in cash. But the most telling point was that the female vigilante left several files of evidence that incriminated multiple Lowerton political offices with connections to the _Verdes_ activities".

"Is that all?"

"No Director there is one last point. The head of the Verdes, a Hugo Segura, was found beaten unconscious and tied up with a large red bow".

"Ha that's funny…you think it's her don't you", Betty stood up and poured herself a fresh cup of coffee.

"Yes I do, Director".

"So do I. She is moving much faster than I anticipated which means she must be getting significant help".

"The Seniors?"

"Maybe but there hasn't been any activity from them to suggest their involvement. It must be her family".

"Should we pick her up?"

"Heavens no Will, and on what charge do you suggest we confront her. These reports are vague at best".

"With all due respect Director if it is Possible then most likely her next move will be to investigate her father's death. You and I both know that the Nanobot investigation has been officially shut down".

"No one knows that more than me. I have been notified by a dozen US Government and Intelligence Agencies that the Nanobot case has been shut down and is officially off limits to everyone, especially GJ".

"But if that's the case…?" Betty watched as Will began to reason it out in his head. "You're using Possible as a loose cannon to unofficially investigate where GJ cannot".

"Kim is the perfect weapon for us. She is skilled, determined, driven, and expendable. I know her and she won't stop until she finds out whether there was anything truly nefarious in her father's death or if his research is still being used today".

"I thought the whole Nanobot project was shut down after Dr. James Possible's death?"

"Officially it was but how many unexplained national level computer network disruptions and infiltrations have we documented since then?"

"Over a dozen Director and those are only the ones we detected. You are implying that they are unexplained only if we assume the Nanobot project is off line. That means you believe someone is utilizing the Nanobot project and is being protected by certain elements within the government".

"Correct".

"So if Possible finds something incriminating you're hoping to take advantage of it to reopen an official investigation".

"Correct again".

"But what if she stumbles upon something truly dangerous? What if she gets hurt or…worse".

"Then Kim Possible's death will also serve as adequate reason for us to reopen an investigation".

"Brilliant…cold blooded…but brilliant", Will whistled in admiration as Betty sat back down behind her desk.

"I'm the Director of GJ Will. I have to be both of those things, each and every day".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He stepped out of the main office and walked along the catwalk overlooking the factory's assembly and production lines. Only the sounds of efficient and meticulous work being done below reached him as all of the workers below performed without uttering a sound. He enjoyed the precision of an ordered work environment and his appearance dictated as such.

He wore an immaculate black three piece suit with black shoes which shone with an almost mirror like shine. A silken blood red tie was set next to a white handkerchief with jeweled cufflinks and diamond rings on his fingers to complement his persona. Black hair with just a hint of grey was slicked back as a well-trimmed beard reached from his ears to his stout double chin.

Yes order was a wonderful thing but he had learned over the years that too much of any one thing wasn't necessarily good. Chaos had its usefulness as well. Speaking of chaos, here she came strutting down the catwalk.

The woman was tall with a bronze skin tone, short blonde spikey hair, and piercing blue-green eyes. She wore a black and red sequined dress that had the consistency of shimmering water with a dangerously low cut neckline and a slit up the side that ran from her ankle to her hip. Where he projected stability and emotional control she exuded randomness and wanton desire. They were the perfect offset to each other.

"You look quite fetching this evening my dear".

"Do I?" She squealed in a disproportionally high squeaky voice. "I do don't I!" She twirled in a circle causing her dress to spin around her.

"Charming to the last", he exhaled tonelessly.

"I must say I love this new look on you as well. The power suit and the whole beard ensemble it's just …smoking. You've got this whole Tony Stark crossover with Lex Luthor thing going on". She ran her hands affectionately up and down his arms and along his chest.

"It seems then that I must attend the nearest comic book convention".

"Oh…do I get to be your Black Widow or your Harley Quinn?"

Her hands moved down his body until one settled on his groin and she began to lewdly stimulate him. He reached down and stilled her hand raising it to his lips and offering it a chaste kiss before turning back to the work going on below.

"Perhaps we should discuss some business first?"

The woman stuck out her lower lip in an obvious petulant pout but she drew back her hand and leaned against the side of the catwalk.

"I want to increase production", he stated flatly as he leaned out gazing over the assembly line below.

"Dare I ask by how much?" She sounded a little concerned.

"I believe by at least twenty five percent".

"Damn…that's too much of an increase. We've stayed off everyone's radar by building slow and steady. In order to increase production that much, we would need to multiply our orders and the use of our supplies. Not to mention what it would do to our power signature. Our risk of detection would increase tenfold", she spat angrily.

"It can't be helped we need more combat units in the field".

"This is because of her isn't it?" The woman rubbed her temples with the palms of her hands.

"Yes it is. Speaking of her how is your surveillance of Ms. Possible proceeding".

"Just peachy! She's been roaming around Lowerton kicking ass and taking names. For some reason she feels the need to beat up common street thugs. Even I have to say those losers were well below her standards".

"Like any newly risen phoenix Ms. Possible is testing her wings".

"You admire her", the woman sounded both surprised and jealous.

"I respect her. There are few in this world that merits such from me".

"I'm telling you she's dangerous. She's eventually going to go to Middleton. What if she finds something?"

"Of course she's dangerous. If I am to be the new messiah? If I am to initiate a new world order in my image, then I need to be tested to prove the faith in my destiny".

He reached out and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her kicking, gasping, and flailing into the air. He drew her in close until her face was mere inches from his own as her hands tried in vain to lessen his grip.

"Faith untested is faith denied and I… will… not… be… denied!" His voice rose until he was all but screaming into her face.

He released his grip and she collapsed to the floor of the catwalk. The woman gasped in pain as she sucked in air and twisted her head in an attempted to relieve the pain. She glared daggers back at him while he only smiled cruelly down at her.

After watching her a few seconds he reached out a hand to her as she flinched away but he continued to extend his hand until she tentatively accepted it. He pulled her to her feet then wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her too him.

Reaching down he lifted her face and brought his lips to hers. The kiss began soft and tender but quickly became more aggressive and insistent. He lifted her up by her bottom and began carrying her back to his office.

"You are a unique and rare treasure my dear. An exceptional gem among the mostly common and mundane of your kind. I crave sensation and pleasure as much as I crave power and you shall give me both in abundance. Then when I fulfill my destiny you shall sit at my side as I usher in a new age of order for this flawed world".

"As you wish my lord", she teased mockingly running her hands through his dark hair.

Stepping in his office and closing the door he ripped the obscenely expensive dress from her body before throwing her onto a couch. She giggled like a paid whore as she ran her hands over her body, lewdly splaying herself wide before him.

He loosened his tie and began carefully removing his suit as he watched her fondle herself. She cooed in delight as he finished disrobing and she bore witness to his excitement.

"Correct my dear…exactly as I wish it", he growled as he lowered himself atop her.

The factory assembly line below continued to function as normal regardless of the screams of pain and pleasure that began to reverberate throughout it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was just past daybreak when Kim Possible pulled up to her mother's house and rode her motorbike into the basement. Exhausted she collapsed onto her bed and tried to sleep but could only manage to doze off in tiny spurts before waking up again and again. After tossing and turning for several hours, she gave up and went back down into the basement. There she began cleaning and assessing her equipment while contemplating her next move.

When she finished cleaning and putting everything away she sat down at the central table, rested her head in her hands, and cried. For several long years in prison she had thought of nothing more than getting out and picking right up where she left off righting the wrongs of the world. Now she sat here chastising herself for her own naivety.

She hated to admit it but she missed her cell mates from prison. Here she was now free, living in her family's home, and feeling almost intolerably alone. How pathetic was that?

"Right now I'd even settle for…" she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out the bent nail file she had found on the roof. "Damn I am getting desperate now aren't I?"

 _'Nothing was ever accomplished by sitting around feeling sorry for yourself Kimmie-Cub'_ , she imagined her father saying. She smiled at the thought and wiped the tears from her face as the basement door opened. Anne Possible descended the stairs carrying two steaming cups of tea in her hands.

"What time did you get in last night?" asked Anne as she handed Kim one of the cups of tea.

"Very late or very early however you want to look at it", said Kim as he smiled her thanks and blew gently on her tea to cool it.

"I saw on the news that there was a fire and several people were killed in an exchange of gunfire in Lowerton. Was that you?" Anne pulled up a chair and sat down across the table from Kim.

"Yes it was". Kim looked both disappointed and embarrassed in her admission.

"What happened?"

"I was badly outnumbered so I used the environment to my benefit. I just pointed them in the right direction and the trigger happy morons did the damage to themselves. Then I just swooped in and finished off the stragglers".

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"It was what I planned and it worked to perfection, so well in fact that I might as well have pulled the triggers on them myself".

"So…does that make you feel good?"

"No it doesn't. But it doesn't make feel that bad either. I regret that some of them died but I'm not sorry I stopped them. I imagine that daddy would be very disappointed in me", Kim sipped her tea and another tear ran down her face.

Anne reached across the table and took her daughter's hand squeezing it reassuringly.

"I knew James better than anyone and your father would be very proud of the woman you've become".

"Even after all that I've done?"

"You've taken a horrible situation and made the most of it. You've lived through prison without losing hope and you've seen the worst the world can dish out and still remained a good person".

"People died because of my actions mom!"

"And you regret it. You have the strength to carry on your work even in the face of the pain that accompanies it. Regardless of all that happened, you haven't become that which you fight against. Your father would be very proud of you for that and…so am I".

"Thank you", Kim squeezed Anne's hand as she used her other hand to wipe her face.

Anne released Kim's hand and reached over to open the black case that sat on the table. She noticed the case was covered in dirt, dust, and in several places dried blood. Once open, Anne saw stack upon stack of cash inside and she whistled appreciably at the sight.

"What are you going to do with this?"

Kim finished wiping off her face and her voice leveled out and became much more professional in tone.

"One of my friends in prison gave me access to one of her offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands that deals completely in cash, with no questions asked. I plan to deposit under an alias my friend uses and then have it available for my expenses. The authorities will have a much harder time tracking the money back to me or you and thus it allows me much more freedom of movement".

"That's smart. So what's your next move?"

"If I'm going to start investigating dad's work, then I have to go back to where it all happened".

"Middleton and the Space Center", Anne herself shivered at the memory of the Space Center and what happened there.

"Yes. I've had nightmares about that place for years but if I'm going to do this then that's where I need to go".

"That place has been shut down since the accident so I don't know what you'll find there".

"Maybe nothing but I have to do it. I owe it to daddy", Kim hugged herself and Anne stood up and moved over to hug Kim who relaxed into her mother's embrace.

"I wish you weren't going by yourself. I know I may be overstepping my bounds a little but I miss the days when Ron went with you on these things".

"I'm sure Ron has better things to do than babysit me anymore mom", Kim reached into her pocket and felt the bent nail file and a wicked little smile spread across her face. "Don't worry I have my own guardian angel out there watching out for me".

Neither Kim nor Anne noticed a small smudge of some fluid like substance seeped out of Kim's armored suit and slide across the floor. It ran up the wall and slid across the work area behind Kim until it reached her computer and it disappeared inside it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego sat luxuriating in the deep floor tub in the presidential suite of the most exclusive hotel in Middleton. She had checked in this morning in anticipation of Kim coming to Middleton. Warm soapy bubbles covered her entire sensuous body as she slowly rotated herself to better feel the high pressure water jets as they lovingly pummeled her.

"Oh yes…right there…I like that…Oh, oh, oh yes…almost there", as she closed her eyes and smiled as the insistent water play moved her closer and closer to orgasmic release.

 _'Bzzzz…Bzzzz…Bzzzz…'_ sounded the phone from the edge of the tub.

"Bloody hell!" she screamed as she angrily punched the water causing water and bubbles to splash over the area. She reached over and snatched up the phone.

"Whoever you are I hope you enjoy the last few moments of your life because when I find you you're dead".

 _'Did I catch you at a bad time?'_ asked Wade with just a hint of humor in his voice.

"If I hear you laugh nerdlinger, I don't care how well you've hidden yourself I will find you and disembowel you".

 _'Love to hear from you too Shego'_ , Wade sounded a bit disappointed.

"Whatever! What do you want? I'm busy".

 _'I thought you might want to know that our friend from Japan has arrived in Middleton'._

"Wonderful. What makes you think I give a damn?"

 _'I thought you might care because I just confirmed that they are in your hotel on the way to your room'._

Just then Shego heard a knock coming from the door to her suite. She slammed the phone shut just as Wade was trying to tell her something but she didn't care to listen to him anymore. Climbing out of the tub she wrapped a towel around her body as both her arms erupted in green plasma flames.

Dripping water and soapy suds on the floor, she crossed the suite to the door muttering several rather vile and offensive expletives and obscenities.

She pictured the person she suspected was on the other side of the door and she drew back one of her arms in preparation for the strike. This was the last person on the face of the earth that she wanted to see. Yes he may have saved the world from the Lorwardians, but he was also the person that left Kim, his girlfriend, in that hell whole of a prison. He was also the one person who could get in her way.

"Alright buffoon you've had this coming…" she threw the door open and stepped out into the hallway to find no one there. "If this is some kind of joke, you've earned yourself a world of pain…" she sneered as glanced left and right down the hallway. A pair of frightened hotel maids down the hall was all she found.

Just then a small tug on the bottom of her towel caused the flimsy material to slide down exposing her ample breasts to the world. She screamed in fright, at an embarrassing high pitched level, and extinguished her flames to grab the towel before she was fully exposed to the world.

"Hi!" said a small squeaky voice from the floor below her.

Shego stepped back and looked down first in horror and then disbelief.

"Oh… no… fucking…way!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes:

 _Can you guess who just showed up? Yes I knew you could._

 _I hope everyone is up to snuff on the players now, I hope the villains are still somewhat of a mystery, because the story is about to get moving on the fast track._

 _Next chapter Kim and Shego finally meet for the first time after prison. Let the fireworks and the good old times roll!_

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Hard Knockers**_


	6. Hard Knockers

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _ **When you meet that special someone you'll understand why it didn't work out with anyone else (Unknown)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim took a day of rest after her battle in Lowerton to rest and spend time with her mother. After that she arranged for the shipping of some of her equipment to the best hotel in Middleton.

On her way to Middleton she met the underground contact of her friend from prison and handed off most of the cash she had taken from the criminal gang in Lowerton. After confirming that the exact amount, minus a small commission, was deposited in a hidden offshore account she left the contact and continued on.

The ride to Middleton didn't actually take that long but to Kim it felt like she had been riding for days. She passed the shopping Mall where she had spent so much of her adolescent youth. Then she stopped in front of Middleton High School. The home of the Mad-Dogs stood silent and empty as this was not a school day. But silent or not the memories of her time there came back intact and unbidden.

' _This is my worst nightmare'_ , she heard herself say long ago.

' _My worst nightmare is the one where I'm in school in my underwear'_ , she remembered Ron's response.

' _Ron you've actually done that'_. Always trust it Ron to put a funny spin on everything.

She saw the gym and the football field where so much of her cheerleading had been done. Wow! How long had it been since she had thought that the world revolved around cheerleading? There was no denying it; the important things in her world had certainly changed.

A small smile spread across Kim's face at the memories. It didn't really matter how much she had changed, not all her memories of high school were bad ones and nothing, and no one, could take those from her. She fired up her bike and rode away toward a residential district that she remembered all too well. It didn't take long for her to reach her destination.

Her bike slowly rolled to a stop and she climbed off while removing her helmet. She had few memories of this new house as it had barely been finished when she had been sent to prison. Her parents rebuilt the house after the one she had grown up in was destroyed during the Lorwardian invasion. After her father's death and her incarceration she knew her mother and brothers had sold the new house and moved away to avoid the constant and never ending scrutiny of the press.

Kim didn't know who had bought the house but a small minivan sat in the driveway and she watched a young girl and boy playing in the yard. She imagined herself and Ron as children playing there together and suddenly it was all too much for her and she put her helmet back on, fired up her bike, and sped off without looking back. Looking at her former home was just too sore a point for her to dwell on. Kim wasn't quite sure where she belonged anymore but she knew this wasn't the place.

She pulled up to a small diner and grabbing a bag from the back of her bike she stepped in and ordered lunch. The lunch crowd was very small and after eating and paying she stepped into the bathroom, after checking to see that she was alone, and locked the door. She quickly changed her clothes, applied new make-up, and put on her brunette wig before stepping back out and riding away.

She parked her bike in the hotel parking garage and then took an elevator to the main lobby. Approaching the counter she scanned the lobby for any potential threats and found nothing out of the ordinary.

She had booked herself a deluxe luxury suite because some self-important blow hard had already taken the presidential suite. Damn-it she had always wanted to stay there. Oh well, she was here in Middleton on business and not on vacation.

"Wonderful to have you with us Ms. Smith", said the head counter clerk.

"I was expecting a delivery of some packages. Can you tell me if they have arrived?" asked Kim as she lowered her sunglasses a bit and scanned the lobby again. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that she was being watched.

"Just let me check a moment", the clerk punched commands into his registration console. "Yes your packages have arrived and have already been delivered to your room".

"Thank you", Kim walked away towards the elevators while continuing to try and locate whatever was triggering her danger sense. How could anyone know she was here or what she was doing? The feeling was like an itch she couldn't scratch.

Kim sighed heavily as the elevator arrived and she stepped in using her room key to clear her for the suite floor. She needed to relax and get set for tonight. She was going back to the site of her greatest failure and she was in no mood for a repeat performance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A decorative ceiling support column in the hotel lobby almost completely blocked the figure of a woman who sat reading a newspaper. She glanced ever so slightly above the edge of the paper as her eyes followed the disguised Kim as she crossed the room. Her head nodded in admiration at the disguise as it was likely to fool anyone who didn't already know who she was, which of course she did.

"Now?" came a small questioning voice.

"No!" she whispered angrily under her breath as she watched Kim standing before the elevators. She could see that Kim was scanning the room as if she sensed danger. Cupcake is nervous. Good! She was glad to see that her time and prison hadn't seemed to dull Kim's senses.

Kim stepped inside the lift and disappeared from sight. Shego let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Mixed emotions played across the former villain's senses. On one hand she and Cupcake were once again playing the great game together. It was almost like old times and she hadn't realized just how darned much she had missed it. How much she had missed her.

Her own professional career hadn't stopped by any means. In fact with her new employers and contacts, she had more opportunities now than ever before. But these last few years had never been the same without Kim.

"Now?" asked Rufus as he climbed atop Shego's head.

"No, we have to wait until we see what she's going to do". Shego reached up and tried to corral her small associate but he dodged and danced just out of her reach.

"Pfffft", the sound of a small raspberry being blown her way was followed by an annoyed grunt as she finally grabbed him.

"Stop complaining or I'm putting you in a cage".

"Boring", mumbled Rufus in a huff.

"Oh calm down. I have a feeling things are going to get exciting real quickly".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim hadn't bothered to check the weather but if she had she would have been happy. There was a bright moon shining over Middleton but the rumbling sound of thunder and the flash of lightning heralded an approaching thunder storm. The inclement weather added the perfect cover for her planned infiltration of the former Middleton Space Center.

A stray flash of lightning illuminated Kim's outline as she stood just outside the closed gates at the main entrance. She was decked out in her black combat suit and arrayed with weapons just as she had been in Lowerton. Maybe she was being overly cautious about what she might find inside, but right now Kim didn't care.

Through the gates the entire campus looked closed, dark, and deserted but Kim wasn't buying that for a second. This facility had contained billions of dollars in equipment and research so she knew someone would be keeping an eye on this place even if most of what had been here was now long gone.

Kim checked her equipment and then her surroundings. She detected no exterior motion sensors, laser grids, or sentry positons. A quick grapple line got her over the outer fence and a short run put her next to a nearby building. Nothing happened and she detected no alarms. This was way too easy.

Thunder boomed and the soft patter of rain began to fall just as Kim's hand held scanner electronically picked the lock to an exterior service door. She quietly thanked her brothers for their help and pocketed the scanner as she flipped open a small flashlight and peered into the building's dark interior.

Kim intimately knew the layout of the entire complex from when she had visited her father here long ago. This building wasn't the one he did his work out of but she knew it was connected to the one she wanted by a raised corridor walkway. Silently and cautiously she moved through the labyrinthine maze of hallways and rooms until she found the walkway and started across. A bright flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder sounded as she walked the dark and deserted corridor. Through the glass walls she caught a momentary glimpse of the outside and a torrential tide of rain was all she could see.

"This place is worse than a haunted house", mumbled Kim to herself just as she reached the next building and pushed open the access door.

"FFFFreeze…!" A stuttering male voice screamed at Kim as a bright light blinded her causing her to blink and frown in annoyance. She found herself staring down the shaking barrel of a small caliber handgun and into the blaring light of a long flashlight held by a uniformed security guard. The guard was a young man, more so a boy of no more than twenty, who could barely hold his gun and flashlight at arm's length.

He was way too close to her to have any actual fighting experience. No one with any sense needed to close to point blank range with a gun. Kim flirted with the idea of disarming and incapacitating him but she felt some pity for the boy. With her training and skill there were a hundred different ways she could have handled him but instead she just slowly raised her hands.

"I'm looking for something and I seem to have gotten lost. Could you please help me?" Kim even batted her eyelashes and offered the hint of smile to punctuate her request.

"Lost? Who are you? No one is supposed to be in here!" The young man ran his flashlight up and down Kim's form and she actually turned her hips and posed for him. She tried to think of how Shego had always pulled off her sultry looks so well all those years ago.

"Thhhhat's combat gear", he stammered.

"This little old outfit is just my work clothes. You see I've always been fascinated by science and I just wanted a chance to see inside this little old place…"

"Wait a minute…I know who you are", the boy lowered his gun and stepped back as he appeared to recognize something about her.

"You do?" said Kim with no small amount of surprise.

"You're Kim Possible!" He shouted and his voice raised several octaves in level.

"Yessss…I'm Kim Possible".

"Wow! What are you doing here? Hey, are you on a mission? This is so incredible". He waived his arms around in excitement and Kim had to duck several times to avoid being in the direct line of his gun.

' _Oh my God he's a fan_ ', thought Kim in exasperation as she stepped forward to grab his gun arm just below the wrist before he hurt one of them. The kid must have just come in from being outside in the rain because his arm was ice cold. She carefully took hold of his hand and maneuvered it until he placed the gun back in the holster at his hip.

"I saw you in action several times growing up in Middleton. You were so awesome and I never thought I would actually meet you, much less help you on one of your missions".

" _Oh for the love of …_ What's your name?" asked Kim in the middle of his hero induced ravings.

"Huh…Oh it's Eric".

"Oh wonderful", Kim moaned under her breath. Why did he have to be called Eric? Old painful memories of Drakken's emotionally manipulative Synthodrone came back causing Kim's head to hurt.

"Listen Eric, I am on a mission but this needs to stay quiet and just between us alright?"

"Oh…yeah sure…I understand completely", Eric said while winking at her and attempting to smile in a most lascivious way.

' _Oh god, save me from idiots trying to flirt with me_ ', thought Kim.

"There is some place in the complex that I have to check out so I'll just be on my way", Kim stepped past Eric and began walking only to find him keeping pace right beside her.

"Is there a problem?" Kim stopped and turned on Eric.

"I want to help", Eric winked and smiled at her as he bounced like a little puppy next to her.

"Listen if you want to help than please continue doing your guard rounds and make sure no one else is here to interfere".

"Yeah…don't worry I've got your back. In fact if you're going to be a while then maybe you'll be here when my shift ends, as I'd love to show you around Middleton".

"I grew up here Eric. I already know Middleton".

"That's right…but I know some wicked stuff that I'd just love to show you".

' _Oh I think the gang banger at Ted's bar was better..._ We'll see. Now let's get cracking". Kim shooed Eric away down the hall and the young guard backed away into the darkness grinning wickedly the entire way.

' _I should have just clubbed him_ ', thought Kim angrily at herself as she moved off towards the containment complex where her father had done his nanotechnology research.

Now freed from her young admirer she entered her father's research area and old memories began to surface as she returned to the site of her worst nightmare.

Kim passed several of the old security stations that were no longer manned or functional. As she entered the primary Nanotech research lab her flashlight illuminated only small portions of the large dark empty space. It reminded Kim of some kind of tomb, her father's tomb to be more precise.

The moment she had dreaded for so long now stood before her. She had willingly gone back to the place of events on that awful-awful day.

"Well you've come all this way Possible . So if there is anything to find here, I guess it's time to live up to your name".

As Kim pulled on her memories of the sights, sounds, and smells from the past, her senses began to reconstruct the lab as it had been. She saw Ron and herself standing behind a protective screen. Her father, Dr. Kachina, and Dr. Fraser were working next to the Nanobot pool. Dr. Porter and Professor Ramesh were in the control room above. She could see it all so clearly but that was the past and she needed to freeze those memories in time and shift her concentration to the present.

She first spied the control room that overlooked the whole area and it looked dark and empty. Then her light showed the large metallic pool that the Nanobots had been stored in was still present and had not been moved. It also looked silent and empty. All the other equipment had been removed but Kim's memory superimposed it over the vast empty space, including all the people who were there.

There was a faint smell of disinfectant, dust, and surprisingly the lingering aftereffects of smoke in the room. Kim could see several places on the walls, floor, and ceiling that still showed signs of the fires that raged through the building. While in prison, Kim had managed to acquire a copy of the official police evidence report, it was better not to ask how, and she could now see why it was so limited. The fires and the fire suppression systems would have destroyed almost all trace evidence.

Kim jumped down into the empty Nanobot holding pool and scanned her light around. The pool was the size of a small swimming area, maybe 100 square feet. The metal walls of the pool showed signs of cracking and fire damage but still looked basically intact. She knew the Nanobots were the culmination of the Hephaestus Project, small microscopic robots designed to multiply, invade, manipulate, and control larger electronic systems. So just how many of the damn things could fit in a pool this size? Billions, she imagined.

Kim's memory placed Dr. Kachina at the nearby computer monitoring station. The woman had seemed happy, confident, and carefree. Almost a little too happy considering she was working on extremely experimental research that's success, or lack thereof, would probably dictate the direction of her future career. The police reports were vague about her ultimate fate and it was always assumed she suffered the same fate as Kim's father.

Dr. Fraser had been working on the other side of the pool and Kim angrily remembered his smug expression when he had literally backstabbed her father. She then pictured him lying bloody and broken on the ground outside and much of her fury dissipated, most of it but not all of it.

She trained her light on the edge of the pool where she had last seen her father. He was trying desperately to maintain the Nanobot's containment when he was… Kim closed her eyes as she tried to stop from remembering her father falling into the pool to be…

"Stop it you twit! You have to remember", Kim chastised herself as she tried to slow her breathing and relax. "You have to see it...for his sake". Moisture shown at the edge of her eyes but no tears ran down her face. She had shed far too many tears over her father's death already.

Shining her light up again she recalled her father falling in and in seconds the small robots had totally eradicated all traces of him. Her father had died trying to keep the Nanobots from escaping and causing even more damage. Stopping them had been more important to him than getting himself, Kim, or anyone else to safety. So if they were such a danger, why didn't they escape?

"There were so many of them. Where did they all go?" Kim ran her light along the floor of the pool and discovered a fist sized hole almost directly under her feet.

Moving back she shined her light on the spot below her and found a whole the size of a baseball in the bottom of the pool. The hole looked as if it had been dissolved or melted by some form of corrosive or acidic substance. Her light couldn't illuminate much beyond the hole and she tentatively stuck her fingers inside trying to gauge its depth. She couldn't feel anything or reach the bottom. Taking a small plastic bag from a pouch at her belt she broke off a few pieces of the partially dissolved metal material and sealed it away. Maybe she could analyze this and find out if the Nanobots did this or maybe something else.

' _They couldn't all have gone down there…could they?'_ thought Kim as she rose from her crouch to do a final scan of the pool. She reached up and vaulted over the side and did a walk around the perimeter of the room. Some loose wires and a lot of burnt wreckage was all she found. Whoever had cleaned the place out had been thorough. She finally reached the small staircase to the upper control room and she ascended it shining her light into the upper dark room.

The control room was empty of the consoles, screens, and terminals that had filled it on that awful day six years ago. There were wall outlets and some smoke and fire damage but the room had fared much better than the lab below. Kim pictured the room as it had appeared in the past and she saw Dr. Porter and Professor Ramesh standing there over the controls. Both of them had managed to escape the Nanobots and the fire so Kim made a mental note that she would definitely need to follow up with them in her investigation.

Thinking back on that awful day, everything had looked fine until she had seen red warning lights flashing in the control room. Dr. Porter and Professor Ramesh had seemed to be arguing over something and the Professor had looked frightened. What could they have been arguing about?

"What were you frightened of Professor?" Kim thought out loud as she knelt down examining the floor where the main control consoles had sat.

If the project was abandoned and everything shut down, then why was everything moved and all investigations closed so quickly? Maybe she shouldn't have taken the plea deal after all. At least her trial might have shed more light on what had actually happened. She needed to dig harder into why the authorities clamped down so quickly.

The softest of foot falls very close behind her caused Kim to stop her musings and tense up. For someone to get that close to her without her noticing meant that she had been more distracted than she thought or else they were very good. She stood up slowly as if she were still studying the room when she quickly spun around throwing up her leg in a snap kick aimed at head level.

At the last moment she pulled her kick and her foot passed dangerously close to Eric's face. The young guard must have had good nerves or no sense at all because he didn't even flinch at the near miss.

"Damnit Eric…you scared me to death. I could have killed you!" yelled Kim, half in anger and half exasperation.

"I seriously doubt that Kim", Eric said in a no nonsense dead-panned tone.

"What do you want?" Kim asked while she tried to calm down from thinking what could have happened if she hadn't pulled her kick.

"The proper question is what do you want?" Eric moved closer to Kim forcing her to back away from him.

"Nothing more…I think I'm down here for now", Kim saw that Eric was far more controlled this time than when she had seen him before.

"Excellent I was told to give you time for you to conduct your investigations before moving on to the next stage".

"Next stage…told…by whom?"

"By the Master of course".

Eric's arm shot out so fast Kim didn't even see it move. Suddenly the room was flying past her senses and pain exploded in her back as she crashed through the control room's viewing window. Glass and debris followed her out in the lab as she fell only to collide and bounce off the metal wall of the Nanobot pool, ending up face down on the floor.

Kim's body registered pain in almost every area but her chest hurt the worst. She fought to regain her breath as her sternum felt like a freight train had run into it. Eric's open palmed strike had struck her dead center and sent her flying through the viewing window and out into the room beyond.

How strong was this guy? He had been standing still when he hit her. The chest plate under her armor was shattered and that was probably the only reason she wasn't coughing up blood right now.

But a more important question might be why had he hit her?

Kim rolled over on her back and looked up at the control room above. She saw Eric's face, inverted from where she lay, move to the edge of the broken window and glare down at her.

"I have not been given permission to kill you Kim but I have been given leave to hurt you…really…bad", said Eric as he leapt from the control room directly above her.

"Dammmmn", Kim cursed as she rolled out from under him just as Eric struck the floor where she had been lying. She kicked up with her legs and spun at the hips to vault herself off the floor into an upright fighting position.

Eric had not moved but knelt on the floor where he had landed. His right arm was driven six inches into the lab floor. Kim watched in amazement as he stood pulling his arm free and showing no apparent damage to the limb.

"What are you?"

"I am the future Kim. Not all of it, but an important part of it".

"What happened to Eric?" Kim had gotten her wind back and she began circling this Eric trying to get closer to the room's only exit. Eric must have guessed her intentions as he matched her movements, keeping himself between her and the way out.

"I am the same Eric you met earlier", his voice changed tone to mimic the overexcited boy she had met before. "It's been me all along. My Master anticipated your arrival and placed me here to welcome you".

"Who's this Master you speak of? Was he the one responsible for all of this…for my father", Kim finally stopped moving as her anger grew and her focus grew deadly serious. She began cataloging her weapons and planning how to take Eric apart.

"For answers to those questions you must ask him. To me he is the new messiah. He does not wish to reveal himself to you yet but soon the entire world will come to know him as their savior…or their destroyer. Which form he will take will be entirely up to them but those are the only choices the world will have".

"Big talk. I've heard it all before".

"I'm sure you have but it was spoken by lesser beings that were unworthy".

"So are you going to talk me to death or are we going to get on with this?"

"As you wish".

Eric didn't move so much as explode from where he was standing, straight towards Kim. Even with all her focus, speed, and reflexes she was just barely able to dodge sideways in time to avoid his rush. Kim had timed her move in accordance with the size, speed, and power he had demonstrated earlier but his fingers still managed to graze her arm. His digits were like hardened steel and even a glancing blow hurt and spun her around.

' _Damn it that hurt! How did he reach me…unless his arms extended in length during the strike',_ thought Kim as she ducked away from him. As she watched it did seem that Eric's arm reach had increased just enough to hit her. But how did he do that?

"That was very good Kim. You are definitely an exceptional person but that will not save you from me or my Master".

"Blow it out your ass", said Kim as she donned a pair of dark lenses and tossed a flash grenade right into his face. The grenade detonated directly on target and Kim was rewarded with a satisfied grunt of pain and surprise from Eric.

Even with the glasses blocking the majority of the flash, Kim's vision was a little blurry following the explosion. However she still detected his stocky blurred form and she closed delivering half a dozen rapid punches and kicks to his chest, torso, and groin. Eric retreated under the sustained assault but he didn't flinch or go down.

Kim was putting everything she had behind her blows but it still felt like she was punching a tree. Eric began to match her movements and then began blocking most of her blows. She knew she had delivered several strikes that should have toppled any normal person but he slowly began turning the tide and pushing her back.

' _Have to change tactics'_ , thought Kim as she pulled a mini-Taser from her belt and fired it into Eric's chest at point blank range. The mini-electrodes struck him high in the shoulder and fifty thousand volts hit him like a hammer. Eric staggered backwards and Kim felt the fight was over.

Her feelings were wrong.

Eric grabbed the Taser's feed lines and pulled Kim off balance and towards him. Before she could right herself Eric latched onto her right arm and twisted it behind her back and forced her to her knees. Kim gritted her teeth in pain as Eric twisted her arm painfully.

"What are you…(hiss of pain)…you fucker?"

"Now Kim you have to watch your language. What would your father say?"

"He would say kick the bastard's aaassss…" Kim never finished her rant as her words turned into a scream as Eric wrenched her arm and dislocated it from her shoulder. In the middle of the blinding pain she felt herself lifted and thrown across the room to land hard and roll until she impacted the far wall.

Kim's vison was slightly blurry as she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. Her right arm hung uselessly at her side and even though she was no stranger to pain she almost passed out from her dislocated shoulder. Using her left hand she opened a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small plastic wrapped syringe. She tore the wrapping open with her teeth and then, with no hesitation, stabbed the needle into her shoulder. The shot administered an intensely powerful combination of adrenal stimulant and painkiller that both took the edge off her pain and banished her grogginess.

Eric hadn't even moved from where he stood when he had tossed her across the room. Kim could see that he didn't even appear hurt except for some slight burns from the grenade and her Taser. He merely stood there with a smug smile on his face and his arms crossed as he stared down at her. Then his smile faded as his eyes shifted slightly to her left and Kim followed the look to see that she now sat right next to the open exit door.

Kim scrambled to her feet and proceeded to walk, run, stagger, and fall down the hall. Not necessarily in that order but a combination of them all. Glancing back she saw Eric calmly walking after her.

In some part of Kim's pain induced-drug addled brain, she imagined Eric speaking in the voice of the cartoon character 'Pepe Le Pew' and saying; _'Wait my darling._ _Do not come wiz me to ze Casbah - we shall make beautiful musicks togezzer right here!'_ Kim actually giggled slightly at the insane reference as she managed to leave the research area and make it back to the normal office section of the building.

' _Keep it together Possible. You can't just run away. You need to find out what this guy knows_ ', thought Kim as she slowly moved down empty corridors and abandoned offices. Eric walked calmly after her, never altering his pace.

She found the crossing walkway to the first building she had entered and accelerated her pace to reach the other side as fast as she could. The other building was more divided and maze-like so she thought to lose Eric until she could think of a way to change the odds in her favor. She only needed a little time and a lot of luck.

The storm outside still raged and rain fell while the occasional lightning flash lit up the sky. When she reached the far side and tried to open the doors she found them locked tight.

"No fucking way!" cried Kim in angry distress.

"There you are cursing again Kim. Of course I locked the doors after I left you but you mustn't let these little setbacks discourage you". Kim turned and found Eric standing behind her at the midpoint of the crosswalk.

Lightning flashed close by and it illuminated his face in eerie light showing his smiling smug face. A clap of thunder followed and Kim reached behind her and pulled a small cylindrical tube from the back of her belt. She turned to face him as she activated the micro laser and began to cut through the lock on the door.

"Why were you told not to kill me?" she asked trying to stall for time.

"I don't know", Eric idly moved to the clear window walls of the walkway and ran a finger along their surface. His finger traced an arbitrary pattern in the condensation that had collected on the glass. "The Master did not say and I would not be so presumptuous as to believe I could understand his thinking".

"Oh come on you must be a little curious?" Kim spared a glance behind her and found she was about half way through the lock.

"Perhaps but you know what they say", Eric turned back to Kim and raised his right hand. She watched as his fingers impossibly elongated and changed into six inch cutting blades. When he flexed them they made a metal on metal slicing sound. "Curiosity killed the Kim".

"What the f…" Kim's exclamation was lost in a point blank thunderous lighting stroke. The sound was so close and so devastating that she was convinced the crosswalk itself must have been hit.

A chorus of rending metal and shattering glass almost deafened Kim as she ducked away expecting to be cut to shreds by flying bits of debris. Meanwhile a burnt, acrid, ozone-laced smell filled the air, causing her to choke and cough, as she felt a huge nascent electrical feedback charge that made her hair stand on end.

A flash of light accompanied this chaos and it momentarily blinded her and left everything trailing a fuzzy green afterimage.

' _Wait…what…green…lightni_ ng?' thought Kim.

Various random images warred with Kim's visual senses as she tried to understand what was happening. Precious tiny hundredths of a second ticked by but to her it felt like time stood still. Wind, rain, glass, and pieces of metal flew across the interior of the crosswalk as one side of it exploded inward.

She watched as an indistinct form, that must have been Eric, turned towards the explosion to meet another unidentifiable form that came crashing through the other side following the glass and debris. This new image was the source of the green glow and it seemed the light came from its appendages.

Time suddenly resumed its normalcy and sped back up. Kim watched as the new figure collided with Eric and a glowing green arm struck him to devastating effect. He was blown backwards and through the glass wall behind him to fall disappearing into the storm beyond.

Now with both sides of the walkway exposed to the storm that raged outside, Kim stood speechless being battered by spraying wind and rain. The new figure went from being too bright to distinguish to being covered in shadow as the green flames that had emanated from its arms snuffed out. She watched as the figure tossed back impossibly long black hair as it surveyed the area and then focused on Kim.

Even with the stimulants she had taken the pain and exhaustion was catching up to her and Kim knelt on the floor watching as the strange figure closed in. A green glow and long black hair? What was that saying about out of the frying pan?

"Looking slick Shego. Somehow I knew you would be involved in this somewhere", Kim smiled demurely up into the pale face that stood looking down at her. Shego was drenched and her long hair trailed rivulets of water and the dark leather jacket, pants, and boots that she wore were beaded with moisture.

"I'm just that bad penny that keeps showing up. You're welcome by the way", Shego knelt down beside Kim and carefully lifted up her right arm. Kim hissed in pain but didn't lose her smile.

"Why are you here? Of course you wanted to finish me off yourself".

"If I did cupcake, you would never have seen me coming", Shego raised up and her hands moved tenderly up Kim's arm until she reached the shoulder. "It really did a job on you".

"Are you kidding? I had him just where I wanted him…Ouch…Ouch…Ouch", Kim grimaced as Shego rotated her arm and lined it back up with the shoulder.

"Yeah, right, I could see that. I'm sorry…this is going to hurt". Shego locked eyes with Kim and she slowly nodded her head and clinched her jaw shut to keep from yelling.

"Just do it!"

Regardless of her preparation Kim cried out as Shego popped her arm back into socket. After it was done the pain diminished remarkably and she was able to slowly rotate her arm.

"We need to get out of here", said Shego as she stepped past Kim and ignited her fist in green plasma flame and burnt through the rest of the door lock. She then kicked the doors open and turned back to find Kim stretching her muscles as she tried to tamp down her wet electrically charged red hair. She was soaked, smudged with dust, bleeding from half a dozen cuts, and her body suit/armor was torn in many places. But quite simply she looked completely awesome.

Ramp it down girl; you are getting way ahead of yourself.

"What was he…it…whatever?" asked Kim as she began following Shego down a flight of stairs to the ground level.

"That was a Bioroid".

"A what?"

"It's a Bioroid or biological-android. That roughly translates to a combination organic/mechanical artificial life form".

"Yeah right. How do you know that?"

Shego led Kim down an outside corridor lining the outside of the building that faced a glass wall that showed the rain falling from the storm outside.

"It's what Drew was working on for your father right before he died".

"Drakken was working with my father!"

"Yes Cupcake. The Bioroid was supposed to be the hardware counterpart to your father's Nanobots, you know their arms and legs".

"So what happened to them?"

Shego stopped running and turned to face Kim. The light from the storm outside was very faint so most of Shego's face was hidden in shadow but Kim could see the pain in her eyes.

"He never finished them. The prototype model murdered him on the day it was first activated and his research into them was halted after that".

"But if Drew's work was discontinued what was…what was that thing?"

"I and my employers believe someone stole Drew's and your father's research and has been using it to create things like you just witnessed. Incidentally Drew just happened to be killed on the same day as your father".

"The same day", Kim tried to process that information. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"I tried to tell you that when I visited you in prison but you were only caring about your own pain at the time". Shego knew that was the last thing she needed to say if she wanted to secure Kim's help but it just slipped out.

Kim's head snapped up at the implied insult and an angry frown formed across her face.

"Since when have you cared about anyone else but yourself, including Drakken?" Kim regretted what she said the moment she said it but right now Shego was pushing her emotional buttons.

Shego advanced until she and Kim were nose to nose.

"His name was Drew and you know nothing about me. I'm here Cupcake because I believe someone purposely caused that Bioroid prototype to kill Drew and I've been trying to find them for the past six years".

"That long and you haven't found them? I thought you were supposed to be good?"

"It hasn't been easy and by the way just how far have you gotten in finding out about your father's death". Shego turned away but just as quickly snapped her head back in front of Kim. "Ironically I believe whoever killed Drew may be the same person that arranged for your father to be killed. So instead of insulting me you might just want to know what I've uncovered while you've been vacationing in prison".

Kim hated the fact that Shego was probably right about her needing the help. She was just about to apologize for her earlier remarks when just a little ways down the corridor the exterior glass wall exploded inward.

Eric, or whatever it was, came walking through the hole in the outer glass wall. Kim looked on in horror as one side of Eric's face was both dented and burned from Shego's plasma strike. Amazingly she could see the skin and hair slowly flowing together as it repaired itself.

Eric advanced into the corridor with the rain washing in behind him. As he walked towards them his body seemed to grow thinner but taller. He extended his arms which elongated in length and his hands changed into multiple whirling blades that began spinning like dual circular saws.

"Greetings to you Ms. Go. While I have been given instructions not to kill Kim, I have full sanction to end your life".

"As if a stolen and corrupted piece of my friends work could take my life", sneered Shego as she reached up and ran green glowing plasma laden fingers through her hair to dry it.

"We are no longer the small vision automatons designed by Dr. Lipsky. With the aid of the Master we have evolved far beyond the limited aspirations of him and Dr. Possible".

"You mentioned this Master before. If he is so fantastic why can't you tell us about him?" said Kim as she moved up to stand next to Shego.

"Or better yet have him show up so he can get his ass kicked by us personally", added Shego as she fully ignited her hands and assumed a fighting stance.

"As I told Kim earlier the Master wishes to remain anonymous at this time. But in his place I will endeavor to teach you the folly of your self-destructive desires".

"We don't take lessons in pain asshole. We give them!" Kim spat a small bit of blood from her cut lip as she pulled several items/weapons from her belt and hung them on various catches on her armored suit before assuming her own fighting stance.

"I'm surprised at you Kim. Didn't our fight earlier teach you anything?" taunted Eric.

"Yes, it most certainly did", Kim's smile was vicious and predatory.

"We are in this together, aren't we?" whispered Shego as she glanced sideways at Kim.

"For now", was Kim's equally low volume answer. "How do we take this bastard down?"

"A Bioroid can utilize the Nanobots to repair or alter its form at will but somewhere in that body of his is a central command processor. We find it. We Smash it. We win".

"Central what…?" asked Kim.

Kim was watching Eric and trying to listen to Shego when Eric surged forward slashing high and low with his spinning bladed hands. Kim flipped backwards causing Eric's wide swing to go high and leave an extensive running gouge in the ceiling.

Shego chose instead to leap forward and dive over the other hand that went low churning up the floor where the green warrioress had been standing. She rolled and came up standing while pulling a small rectangular device from her jacket.

"Please tell me your monitoring…good…I need you to scan something stat…yes the big strange fucking thing just ahead of me…oh just do it", Shego spoke into the device and then slapped it to hang against the inside wall of the corridor.

' _Who is she talking too?'_ thought Kim as she circled Eric trying to flank him opposite Shego. _'It almost sounded like me when I used to talk to…it can't be'._

Eric turned back and forth between both women trying to watch each one. Kim noticed he glanced at the device Shego had placed on the wall and then he smiled.

' _If Shego put that thing there to scan for his weakness then why is he happy about it?'_

Kim's musings nearly cost her as Eric's body suddenly spun in a circle with his saw bladed hands weaving a pattern of death. She ducked, dropped, and rolled to avoid the attacks and when she had righted herself she yanked a dull green tube from her chest harness and tossed it at Eric. The vial shattered where it struck the elongated monster on the hip.

It contained a most spectacular molecular acid designed by her brothers. Their original intent was to create something that would eat through any lock or barrier with ease. Kim was obviously improvising.

Eric howled in apparent pain as the viscous fluid now ate away at his body. Great open sores appeared on his hips, legs and torso. Smoke and small electrical discharges emanated from the wounds as Eric's apparent auto-healing functions tried to repair the damage.

Shego blocked a swinging arm from Eric with a plasma wreathed forearm. Her plasma blackened his arm but the force of the blow nearly broke hers in return. With her off hand she placed a small receiver in her ear.

When Kim hit Eric with the acid, his movements became erratic and more difficult to predict.

"Have you found this assholes CPU yet...What do you mean it's not that easy...Genius my ass". Shego weaved a pattern of destruction on Eric as she dodged and weaved around him delivering plasma laden blows at random intervals.

Eric's left hand stopped spinning and the arm coiled in like a rope and then lashed out like a snake. The move caught Shego off guard and the tentacle wrapped around her right ankle. The arm retracted and jerked her off her feet. Her head slammed into the floor and she was stunned for only a second. That was a second too long.

Eric's knee slammed into her chest as he dropped down on top of her pinning one of her arms under his bulk. His tentacle like arm wrapped itself around her throat and began to squeeze with incredible force. She grabbed the choking limb with her free arm and tried to burn through it with her plasma but it was repairing itself almost as fast as she melted it.

Kim slammed full force into the side of Eric trying to dislodge him but she couldn't budge him. Then she had to dodge away to avoid Eric's remaining saw hand.

"Don't worry Kim I'll be with you in just a moment", said Eric as his free hand stopped its spinning and the end of the arm flowed together into a spear like point. He raised the arm back and pointed the tip right between Shego's eyes.

"How tragic in that you will never know the truth or avenge your friend's death", taunted Eric.

"Fuuuck you!" wheezed Shego through clenched teeth as she struggled to breathe.

She raged at her own impotence. She couldn't fail now because then she would die owing Drew and that just wasn't an option.

Eric's arm was now poised high over her head and darkness was beginning to creep into the edges of Shego's vision. Unable to relieve the pressure on her throat or catch a breath Shego chose to use the last of her air to spit up into Eric's face. His smile merely widened at her gesture.

Then over Eric's shoulder she saw Kim flipping in the air and slamming something, a white vial/tube of some sort, onto the upraised spear like arm. A wave of chilled air washed over her as the limb was suddenly frozen solid by some super cold liquid. This was another invention of Kim's brothers, their liquid nitrogen capsule that was designed to freeze anything, even steel, to the point of brittleness.

Eric screamed in pain and tried to wiggle free but by his own actions he and Shego were held tightly together. Kim landed next to him and snapped out a combat baton from her belt. She struck the frozen limb which proceeded to shatter into hundreds of pieces, all the way up to the shoulder. The spray of icy parts on the floor of the corridor sounded like the tinkling of a freezing downpour.

Even with the sound of Eric's cry and the chorus of icy shards, Kim heard a faint voice coming from Shego's ear receiver.

' _(static) unit…(static)…probable…shoulder',_ Shego's eyes narrowed and her free plasma hand let go of the tentacle around her neck and plunged deep into Eric's left shoulder.

Shego's hand went in up to the wrist before she couldn't push it in any more. She felt Eric's body trying to push it out and seal the wound at the same time. She tried not to think about the small bits of melted material that dripped onto her from the wound as her fingers sought to dig in further. Then her fingers brushed something solid inside his shoulder and she struggled to grab onto it.

Kim continued to strike Eric with her baton as she tried to leverage him from atop Shego. Eric's mouth widened into a gaping maw and his teeth lengthened into inch long fangs as his head stretched down towards Shego's face.

Shego's fingers finally closed on the small solid object inside Eric and she crushed it between her fingers.

He immediately began to writhe uncontrollably above her and when Kim roundhouse kicked him in the side of the head Eric collapsed to the floor.

Shego rolled coughing out from under him and Kim reached down to help her stand. As their hands touched Shego almost jerked hers away because she was unsure how Kim would react. But she needn't have worried because Kim was already looking away towards Eric's body.

' _She's right. Business first'_ , thought Shego grudgingly as she reluctantly let go of Kim's hand.

"Thanks cupcake".

"My name happens to be Kim. Besides whatever happened to princess?"

"I've been watching you lately, Kim", Shego put emphasis on her name, "and you most definitely are not a princess any more".

"You've been what…watching me?" Kim turned an angry face towards Shego but she had already stepped past Kim to examine Eric. The red head frowned and shook her head but followed Shego towards their fallen foe.

Eric lay where he had fallen and his body had ceased all efforts to change form or repair itself. His was still missing his right arm and his mouth had frozen in the rictus of a silent scream.

"Is he dead?"

"I hope the fuck so", said Shego as she knelt next to the body.

"I wanted a chance to question him and find out what he knew", Kim ground her teeth in frustration as she stood over Eric.

Suddenly Eric's eyes snapped open and his jaw began moving with little jerks and twitches. His eyes shown with a dull red glow that wasn't there before and he spoke in a raspy sounding mechanical voice. Both women jumped back with one igniting her plasma and the other raising her baton while yanking a small grenade from her suit.

" _Perhaps (static)…I can be of some assistance with that Ms. Possible_ ". Eric's body didn't move but his mouth formed into a fang toothed smile and his eyes glanced back and forth between Kim and Shego. The voice that came from the body was male but definitely different than the voice Eric was using before.

"Let me guess you're the Master I presume?" Kim put her weapons away as she knelt next to the body. Shego stepped closer but her plasma stayed ignited as she glared down at the smiling face.

" _Very good Ms. Possible. You are most certainly living up to your reputation and my expectations_ ".

"Who the fuck are you?" Shego made no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice.

" _I'm the one you've been chasing unsuccessfully all these years Ms. Go. I must say I am very happy to finally have this opportunity to speak with you_ ".

"Well you can just go f…" Kim held up a hand in front of Shego to stop her rant. She looked at Shego pleadingly and motioned slightly with her head indicating this might not be the best use of their time.

"Are you the one responsible for my father's and Dr. Lipsky's deaths?" asked Kim directly as she resumed looking into the broken Bioroid's red glowing eyes.

" _More or less. They posed a clear and present danger to me and my plans so I arranged to have them eliminated_ ".

"You admit it so casually?" asked Shego as she extinguished her plasma and crossed her arms in obvious disdain.

" _I find that life is cheap for those with the power to take it_ ".

"And you have such power?"

" _I do indeed. But we digress from a more important issue_ ".

"Which is?"

" _Our future_ ".

"That's simple. You won't have any once I find you".

"Or me", added Kim.

" _Then you both do intend to continue to search for me_ ".

"Well duh!" Shego rolled her eyes.

" _Excellent. And you are both together",_ Kim and Shego shared a momentary embarrassed glance at that statement, _"That will make the game definitely more interesting_ ".

"This isn't a game. It's a reckoning and once I find you…" started Kim.

"When we find you", added Shego stepping closer to Kim. Kim turned her head slightly with an expression of surprise and annoyance at Shego's interruption. Then she continued.

"Once you are found, justice will be served upon you. Now do you have anything remotely helpful to say to us or just more of your inane monologue?"

" _Now Kim I expected you to appreciate the art of conver…(squawk)_ ".

Kim's boot came crashing down on what remained of Eric's face and the red glow from his eyes faded out and the mouth hung dead and silent. Kim ground her heel into the floor smashing the remains into a pile of pasty goo.

"Yeah I was right", Shego stepped past Kim and walked down the corridor until she reached the device she had attached to the wall. She retrieved it and placed it inside her leather jacket.

"About what?" Kim stepped away from Eric and began collecting all her gear.

"You are definitely not a princess anymore".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The view screen froze with the last image projected from the bioroid's eyes. Kim Possible's boot filled the screen and only a small portion of her face was visible from the side of the screen.

The one Eric had called the Master stood stroking his beard idly with one hand while he smiled up at the picture. Standing at a small computer station on the catwalk over his factory's production line, he had watched the entire battle through Eric's eyes. He reached up and switched the monitor off.

This was wonderful. Things were working out better than he could ever have hoped. While it was true that together the two of them had been able to defeat Eric, one of his best and most costly combat models, that outcome was not unexpected or undesirable. He wanted them to continue their vendetta against him after all.

He detected a tiny rustle and the soft pad of foot behind him. Slowly he turned to see Kim crouched on the cat walk only a few feet away. Her face was set in a vicious sneer and in her hands were twin combat batons that sparked with powerful electrical charges.

He just openly yawned at her.

"Now that I've found you I will exact justice for my father and all the other innocents you've destroyed in your mad quest for power".

"Oh give us a break Camille. You know very well that Ms. Possible has not figured out the location of this facility", he casually waved her off as he turned back to the computer and began typing in commands. "I like your true form better anyway and besides your shape shifting is imprecise. You are using Kim's hair coloring and bone structure from her teenage years. Study her present body form more closely if you are going to try impersonating her".

Kim's face changed from a viscous sneer to a spoiled pout. Then her body changed from the athletic red head to the sultry blonde vixen of Camille Leon. Her clothing changed as well, switching from Kim's new battle clothing into a long low cut black dress. She scooted up beside him and sat on the workbench right next to the computer.

"I just love these little robot thingies. With them I can alter my clothing as easily as I can alter my own form".

"My work is not a toy for you to play with my dear. I made you that outfit to accentuate your abilities so you can better serve me. Not to play dress up in".

"Boy you're in a mood tonight. I guess getting your precious Bio-whatever trashed by Kim and the green goblin upset you more than I guessed". Camille crossed her arms over her chest in a huff and threw her head back as if she had made a significant point.

"On the contrary I am exceedingly pleased with tonight's results".

"What do you mean? We just got our asses kicked".

"Tonight's activities were never designed to permanently defeat Ms. Possible. They were meant to further engage her against us".

"Whatever. I still think it's foolish to play with her like this", Camille jumped up and moved behind him to wrap her arms around his waist. "This whole endeavor is just a big waste of time".

"But it is my time to waste". He disengaged her arms and sat down in a chair before the computer. Camille rested her hands on his shoulders as she sighed and rested her chin atop his head.

"We command an army of perfectly loyal and subservient super soldiers that we have infiltrated into almost every aspect of human society in the world, correct?"

"Correct", he agreed.

"In addition to that, we have at our disposal the greatest software/hardware infiltration and control technology the world has ever seen, correct?"

"Correct".

"Then why are we screwing around with Kim. Why don't we just get on with destabilizing governments, crashing global economic markets, and or stealing nuclear missile control codes?"

"What makes you think I haven't been trying to do those very things all along?"

"Well because we haven't succeeded at any of them yet".

"That's because my attempts have not been unopposed".

"What do you mean opposed?"

"Someone has been hacking into my attempts to control and manipulate data around the world. Passwords, code words, files, and critical information has been written, changed, and rewritten. They have managed to do this without the normal authorities discovering their activities or myself being able to track the hacker back to its source".

"Why haven't they exposed us?"

"Because I likewise have been covering our tracks and preventing them from tracking our actions".

"Wait just a damn second! Nobody is supposed to know about us, much less be able to stop us", Camille let him go and once again leaned against the workbench with another petulant pout on her face. "Who the hell is doing it anyway?"

"I don't know for certain but all my research points to only one probable suspect".

"Who?"

"Mr. Wade Load".

"Kim Possible's geeky tech guy?"

"Correct".

"So why don't we just kill him?"

He sat back in his chair and a long slow sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in apparent indignation.

"If it were that simple, I would already have done so. But Mr. Load is a certifiable genius and has been able to thwart all attempts, including mine, to discern his location".

"So a barley adolescent reclusive geeky computer nut job who hides from the world has managed singlehandedly to stop our plans?"

"Not stop, only stall. Mr. Load's actions have slowed our progress to a crawl but regardless of his interference we continue to press forward. Ultimately we will prevail".

"So what's the problem?"

"I am disinclined to wait as that only invites further interference from other sources. So I have initiated a plan to identify his location and eliminate him by offering up the one game piece he cannot resist".

"Hasn't he already been helping Ms. Green Jeans these last few years?"

"Yes he has. Which is why I have tolerated Ms. Go's pursuit of us. But Mr. Load has only offered her minimal aid which has proven insufficient to reveal his hiding place".

Camille squealed in apparent delight as she jumped up and then sat down directly on his lap throwing her arms around his neck.

"I figured it out! You're using Possible as bait. You're trying to draw him out".

"Very good my dear. The information I gained from tonight's episode alone has already made the world a smaller place for Mr. Load to hide in. As Kim and her allies further throw themselves against us I predict that he will continue to aid them…"

"And eventually reveal himself to us", finished Camille.

"Exactly".

"You know this plan is still dangerous. While I am loathe to admit it, Kim Possible is exceptional in both physical ability and intelligence. If she gets too close or lasts too long, she could damage us severely".

"Yes there is an element of danger to this but it is the quickest way to reveal our chief rival's location and test our technology and agents against a worthy opponent".

"I just love it when you're all tall, dark, and strategic", whispered Camille as leaned forward to kiss him and find a much better use for her tongue. Because with her shape altering abilities she could make her tongue very, very, long.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rain had just stopped when Kim and Shego emerged from the Space Center. The storm had just passed and it left the outside air smelling clean and fresh.

Kim's entire body, especially her shoulder, ached and she imagined her entire body would be one big bruise by tomorrow. She glanced enviously at Shego who, despite being drenched in a storm, nearly struck by lightning, and almost being killed by a murder-roid, looked like she just stepped off a glamourous model photo shoot. How does she do that?

"How long have you been following and watching me?" asked Kim as she followed Shego over the wall at the main gate to the complex.

Shego turned and began leading them away from the complex towards where Kim had stored her motorcycle.

"Since you got out of prison".

"Since then. Why?"

"Why are you complaining? I've been your guardian angel".

"My…that was you in Lowerton wasn't it", Shego only smiled and Kim's first reaction was one of anger at Shego's intervention into her work. But then her head cooled a bit and reason won out. "Thank you".

"You're welcome…and by the way…thank you for…saving me back there", Kim couldn't see all that good in the dark but she could of sworn that Shego might have been blushing a little.

"Your welcome it's what I do".

"Not for me".

"For anyone that would need it".

Shego snorted in derision at Kim's comment but said nothing more. They reached the spot where Kim had hidden her bike and she saw another bike now parked next to hers. The new bike was a green Kawasaki Ninja and Kim had feelings of Déjà vu that she had seen it seen it somewhere before. Shego sat down on the seat of her bike and turned to face Kim.

"Even after prison and all that has happened to you are you still trying to play the hero?"

"No. As you said, I'm no longer a princess or a hero anymore".

"Good because I don't work with heroes".

"Who said I needed or wanted to work with you?"

"He did", Shego reached over her bike and pulled forth a small box and held it up before Kim.

Kim tried to figure out what the box was in the darkness until she noticed a small arm and hand waving at her from the box. She leapt forward to grab the box out of Shego's hand to look closer at what it contained.

"Hi", came a small squeaky voice from the box.

"Rufus!" Kim laughed aloud and spun in a circle cradling the box next to her chest. "What are you doing here? Why are you in…you put him in a cage?" Kim yelled at Shego.

"It was the only way to keep the little bastard from chasing off after you", Shego shrugged her shoulders and held up her hands defensibly.

Kim growled at Shego as she tore the top off the little cage and Rufus jumped out onto her shoulder. He wrapped his little limbs around her head as he cooed into her ear.

"I've missed you so much little buddy", then Kim seemed to look around and her face took on a look of absolute horror". "Is Ron here?"

"Uh-uh, just me". Kim reached up and took Rufus into her hands holding him in front of her as a few tears rolled down her face.

"Why are you with…her?" asked Kim.

"Your old flame sent him to me in order to smooth out the process". Both Rufus and Kim turned hard eyes on Shego who just glanced away while her fingers idly played with her hair.

"The process of what?"

"Us working together".

"Why didn't you just come to me when I just got out of prison and ask for my help?"

"Been waiting".

"Waiting for what?"

"For you to be ready to accept my help".

Kim growled at Shego again but couldn't fault her logic. She probably would have turned Shego down, just like she had Doctor Director, if she had come to her right out of prison. This was all happening so fast and it made Kim's head hurt as much as her body hurt.

"What do you think Rufus? Should I work with her?"

Rufus gave Shego a hard stare before he turned back to Kim and ran a small hand over his chin as if he were contemplating something important. Finally he nodded in the affirmative and smiled up at her. Kim hugged him to her chest and then placed him up on her shoulder.

"Alright, at least for now, I agree to work with you".

"Great then you're ready for this", Shego reached into her jacket and pulled forth the same device Kim had seen her talk into before. She tossed it to Kim who grabbed it out of the air and the screen on its surface suddenly lit up. A familiar but older face stared back at her from the screen.

"Wade. How are you doing? Where have you been? Why are you working with her?"

Wade's looks had changed considerably since Kim last saw him. Gone was the young boy, now replaced with a young man of nearly twenty. He was taller and quite handsome if a bit haggard and worried looking. He laughed for a bit and smiled at her.

"The same old Kim. I'm fine, somewhere safe, and after your incarceration it was hard to find good people to work with. I've been helping Shego and she's been helping me, off and on, while you've been away".

"It's really good to see you Wade. I never really got a chance to say goodbye to you after…well you know".

"Yeah I know. Kim I know you want to find out who was behind your father's death and I want to help with that too but this situation may be bigger than the death of any one single person".

Kim didn't like the sound of that. She looked first to Rufus, then Shego, and then back to Wade trying to get some feeling on what was going on.

"What exactly are you trying to do Wade and what do you want from me?"

"They're one in the same Kim and the same thing we've always tried to do, save the world".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes:

 _Finally! This chapter took forever (three months) to finish. It wasn't all the chapters fault but mine. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year I had the worst case of writer's blah! I just couldn't get motivated to write._

 _The holidays were long and tiring as my mother died in December. In helping my father and dealing with the adjustment my writing was just, well it just wasn't there. But this chapter marks the turning of a corner and I hope to get things moving again._

 _My next chapter should be in my new story, the third in the James Possible series, 'When You Wish Upon a Star' so I'm looking forward to that._

 _Don't worry this story is also far from over and we will be getting back to it soon enough._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **The Death of Drakken**_


	7. The Death of Drakken

**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _ **I am not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens (Woody Allen)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Choking smoke filled her lungs stifling any attempt to breathe and blinded her eyes with stinging tears. She heard the crackling of flames and the wail of sirens as she stumbled blindly along the roof.

 _'I'm going to…I'm going to…I'm going to…'_ thought Kim as she pursued her father's murderer. Her eyes watered from a combination of pain, sorrow, and smoke but she would not be denied justice for her father.

At that moment she ran directly into someone. The impact jarred her whole body but she couldn't make out whom she had struck. The person had been soft but firm and it had hurt, but not that much. Kim flailed her arms around trying to get a grip on whoever she had hit but she found nothing.

She heard the screams as soon as she cleared the smoke and could see again. She stared down at the broken body of the man she had murdered and into the eyes of the people who judged her guilty.

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim Possible's head snapped up from the pillow she was sleeping on as the all too familiar nightmare came to its predictable end. She was in her suite at the Middleton hotel as her heartbeat and breathing dropped back to normal.

Her body ached all over from her battle yesterday with the Bioroid Eric. Her shoulder, that had been dis and relocated, especially hurt and she lay her head back down and stared out the open window at the bright morning that lay beyond.

Her attention was drawn to some movement beside her and she saw Rufus, the naked mole rat, curled up on the pillow next to her head. She reached out and gently stroked him as he rolled over allowing her access to his soft belly. Smiling happily she rubbed soothingly and then patted his head before slowing rising out of bed.

Kim was naked as she stood up and stretched next to the bed. After so many years in prison, sleeping in clothes she didn't like wearing, she found sleeping _'au natural'_ very liberating. That was until she viewed herself in the full body mirror next to bathroom. Her amazingly tone, athletic, and flawless skin was covered in cuts, scabs, and bruises.

"Damn I really took a beating", Kim said to herself as she turned in a circle trying to examine all parts of her body. Her arms legs and chest were especially bruised from both taking and blocking hits.

"Never should have let that thing get in that many shots", Kim berated herself. "I haven't taken such a beating since the last time I fought…her", Kim looked up at the ceiling of her suite. She knew that high above in the Presidential Suite was the individual she was thinking of. The person yesterday who had saved her and she had saved in return. The last person on Earth she thought would be the recipient of either of those honors.

"Does this mean I've gone off track or come full circle?" There was no one present to answer that question so she relaxed her body and began her morning calisthenics. The workout hurt but the pain jarred her mind awake and it drove her to push herself even harder. A half hour later she was breathing heavily while coated in a bright sheen of perspiration, and felt almost like her normal self. Maybe it wasn't going to be a bad morning after all. Just then the Kimmunicator that she had been given last night went off with its all too familiar beep.

Kim hesitated before picking up and answering the device. All her plans to investigate her father's murder had all been solo ones. That way if something went wrong, only she had to pay the price. Now if she picked this up then she was inviting who knows how many people in. Could she take that chance?

In for a penny…she thought as she picked up the Kimmunicator and held it up so only her face would be visible. "Good morning Wade".

"Hello sunshine how are…whoa", Wade's initial bright smile faded quickly as he glanced at Kim. "Damn girl, I think you're going to have quite a shiner there".

Kim hadn't paid much attention to her face when she had been looking over herself. Now she glanced at the mirror and raised a hand to her face. Sure enough there was already a darkening beginning to show around her left eye.

"I guess that proves I'm way out of practice".

"Not your fault Kim. That thing you were fighting last night was mean and evil in every sense of both words. But at least you weren't fighting it alone".

Kim stopped looking at herself in the mirror and turned a critical eye back at Wade.

"Speaking of that? How long have you and … been working together?"

"A few years…" Wade seemed to hesitate in his explanation but sighed and then kept going. "Things in this business weren't the same without you. I helped Ron as he tried to do a solo act for a while but eventually he lost heart and moved on to Japan".

"Did he ever say anything about…?" Kim was too embarrassed to complete her thought. She hadn't heard from Ron since she had sent him away at the prison and she was convinced he must hate her.

"He sent Rufus to help you Kim. That should tell you all you need to know about how he feels for you".

Ron had always been the understanding one. Even after all this time and everything she had done, he was still there for her. Kim couldn't help it as a few unrestrained tears ran down her face. Damn him. Why couldn't he just hate her like any normal person would? It would be so much simpler that way.

Wade cleared his throat loudly to draw Kim's attention back to him. She quickly wiped away her eyes.

"Now back to your original question. After your incarceration a certain number of organizations were very interested in shutting me down so I had to go underground. I've been off the grid for years now."

Kim carried the Kimmunicator into her washroom. "Wade I'm going to take a shower. I'll disable the video but leave the audio on so just keep talking". She laid the device on the counter as she turned on the water and stepped in. As Kim began washing her hair Wade continued talking.

"About a year after you went into prison I detected Shego moving covertly through the criminal underworld. At first I thought she had went back on her Lowardian pardon and returned to crime. But it turns out she was trying to investigate Drakken's murder".

"So she was telling me the truth last night. Drakken was killed on the same day as my father?" Kim spoke around little bits of soapy water that ran into her mouth.

"Yes. She was convinced that someone had hacked into Dracken's work in order to kill him. At the time she was running into a lot of trouble trying to track the murderer electronically so I decided to help her out".

"Did it work?"

"Not really but it built up a rapport between us".

"That sounds like you". Kim was soaping her arms and legs and occasionally wincing at the soreness of her muscles.

"Then later when I needed some boots on the ground to accomplish something I asked her for help and long story short, we've been helping each other out since".

"The question is can we trust her? What does she want with me?"

"Why don't you ask her Kim? Like I said before things haven't been the same without you. Truth be told… I think she misses you".

"Yeah right", Kim scoffed as she stepped from the shower and grabbed a towel to begin drying herself off.

"I'm serious Kim. You guys always had a good connection. You were bound together as competitors, light vs. dark, hero vs. villain, and now you're bound by loss and pain. Talk to her; ask her why she's here. I think the answer might surprise you".

"I will. Thanks Wade, you still rock". Kim cut the communication as she stepped out of the washroom and began to organize her clothing, equipment, and weapons.

Kim looked over her tactical combat gear and armor while noting several pieces missing or damaged from last night's battle. Good thing the 'tweebs' made extras of almost everything. She glanced to the closet where she had set out her civilian clothes and then back to her combat gear.

"Well if I'm going into the green lion's den I guess I better dress the part".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Why were humans always so noisy and in such a hurry all the time? Couldn't a naked mole rat get a decent night's sleep once in a while?

Rufus rolled over on the pillow, stretched and yawned himself awake. He smacked his lips and was instantly thirsty and hungry. Kim was standing there naked and he quickly averted his eyes. It's true they weren't even the same species but Kim was family and he would always respect her privacy.

So instead he whistled quietly to himself as he shifted his gaze to the items Kim had laid out on the bed. It was mostly her armored clothing and her weapons which weren't all that interesting to Rufus. He was about to roll off the bed and slip away to the minibar for refreshments when his keen senses detected movement among Kim's things. Something had moved, more like slithered, between Kim's things.

Kim had her back to the bed as she was standing at the closet looking through her normal clothes. Rufus quickly waddled across the too soft bed until he stood in the middle of Kim's things. Nothing seemed out of place and he detected no sign of anything foreign. But he could have sworn…well maybe he was just groggy from waking up.

"Good morning Rufus", Rufus turned to find Kim standing there in her underclothes.

"Hi", Rufus squeaked as he waved at her.

"I'm going up to talk to…you know who. Keep an eye on things down here will you?"

Rufus stood at attention and saluted. As Kim went back to getting ready Rufus scanned Kim's things with a worried eye. Not seeing anything else he jumped down, opened the minibar, pulled out some water, and began to chug.

Behind him on the bed a dark substance flowed from the chest piece of Kim's suit to her tactical weapons belt and disappeared inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _'What a strange little creature'_ , thought the Master as he closed the monitoring screen that had shown the interior of Kim's hotel room. She seems to have some kind of unique rapport with the animal. His initial analysis of Kim Possible had barely mentioned this 'Rufus' and he had discarded it as of no consequence to his goals. Perhaps that was an oversight on his part.

The animal had almost detected his Nano-probe. He would have to be more careful of that in the future and include the presence of this naked mole rat in his calculations.

The animal's interference had prevented the probe from accompanying Kim to her meeting with Ms. Go, unfortunate.

Let them have their talk. After all they have been to each other in the past, will they really be able to work together? He surely hoped so. Defeating them together will be so much more interesting then defeating them singly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim stood outside the door to the presidential suite wondering if this was a good idea. Was this really the best course of action she could take? Did she really need her help?

Kim had always believed that someone had to have been behind her father's murder and last night she finally confirmed it. She didn't know who this 'Master' was but neither did the person she had come to see. But that person had been tracking him for years, unsuccessfully, but still on his trail. That meant she could have information vital to Kim's investigation.

But this 'Master', whoever they were, had only revealed themselves when Kim had become involved. That meant she needed Kim as much as Kim needed her. So there was a direct tactical advantage to them working together. So why did that fact fill Kim with so much trepidation?

It wasn't that Kim was frightened of her. Yes, in the first few seconds when she had shown up, Kim had thought she might have been there to kill her. But that wasn't the case. After that, Kim had been pissed off certainly but also… slightly… almost… relieved.

Kim laughed at herself for a moment. From the way I'm babbling, it almost sounds as if I'm the one who … missed her.

Stiffening her back and steeling her resolve she raised her hand and knocked forcefully on the suite's door. There was no immediate response so Kim waited almost a minute before knocking again. When there was still no response she tried the door and found it unlocked. Reminding herself that this was still currently the best plan she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hellooooo…." no one responded to call.

The almost cavernously big suite had no lights on but was well illuminated as the shades had been drawn to allow the sunlight in. Kim was immediately hit with the smell of breakfast foods and spicy incense. The smells were heavenly and caused Kim's mouth to water and her stomach to growl. She hadn't had anything to eat yet this morning.

Rounding a corner she found a large kitchenette that was filled with various dishes of food. Eggs, bacon, ham, biscuits, salads, and several beverages were spread out on various countertops. A veritable buffet lay before her and Kim's eyes swept the area finding no one present. Was this for her? Should she wait? Aw fuck it?

Being very careful to not get any on her she began scarfing down mouthful after mouthful of food and then washing it down with some kind of mango-whatever smoothie thing. She was about to begin eating again when the sound of a distant moan reached her ears. Grabbing her drink, and a biscuit, Kim stepped out of the kitchen and followed the sultry moaning sounds deeper into the suite.

"Oh yesss…harder…harder…right there…Oh baby…baby you are the best".

Kim recognized the voice at once. What the hell? She couldn't be? Not this morning. Despite her reservations Kim continued to follow the sounds while beginning to feel like some kind of sick voyeur.

Kim's path led towards the suites outside balcony and she could see the silhouette of two individuals through the glass. She stopped and heaved a long frustrated sigh. What the hell am I doing here? If that's what I think it is, should I really be intruding?

It was then that Kim thought about the long hours of selfless work she had been putting in since getting out of prison. She hadn't really been able to have any fun. A small smile spread across Kim's lips. Well, maybe just a quick peek wouldn't hurt.

Kim maneuvered around until she could see someone lying on a long rectangular table with a tall Asian brunette beauty in some kind of white nurse's uniform standing next to it. The woman was leaning over and rubbing the individual on the table in a very sensual chiropractic way. Then as Kim reached the egress to the balcony she was finally able to see along the length of the table.

Shego was lying on her stomach gloriously naked. Her head was turned on its side and resting on crossed hands while her long ebony hair lay stretched out beside her and hung down almost to the floor. Her pale perfect skin lay exposed and glistening from being covered in rubbing oil. Kim could see the shimmering rainbow effect the oil made on Shego's skin as the woman rubbed her hands down her back all the way to her…

Kim couldn't help but gasp at the sight.

Shego's head shot up at the sound. Her face morphed from initially irritated, to mild surprise, to avid tease in the span of two seconds.

Kim stood there gawking with a bit of biscuit barely hanging out of her mouth and Shego intuitively saw where the stricken girl's eyes were focused. She arched her back and raised her ass into the masseuse's pressing hands and watched as Kim's eye grew huge and the biscuit and drink she was carrying dropped to the floor.

"See anything you like cupcake?"

Kim jolted awake and pivoted her body as if she were on a turnstile until she was facing away from Shego. Even being nearly twenty five years old and surviving six years prison didn't keep a deep blush from creeping into her cheeks. It was absolutely adorable. Noticing the blush made Shego, finally, really look at Kim and...Damn…she was gorgeous.

In her room Kim had contemplated wearing her tactical gear but that would have been what Shego would have expected. So she decided to change things up and maybe put her erstwhile ally off guard for once. So after applying enough makeup to hide most of her obvious injuries, especially her eye, she had chosen a much more casual style.

Kim was wearing a long sleeve emerald colored blouse with a revealing neckline that accentuated her chest and covered up the bruises on her arms. Her hair was braided into a long red cord that swung lazily back and forth across her shoulders. Finally she wore a dark pair of jeans. Not just any jeans because this pair was so tight they looked sculpted onto her body.

With Kim now facing away from her Shego marveled at Kim's long legs and tightly clad heart shaped ass. There isn't a crowbar in the world that should have been able to squeeze her into those things, thought Shego in jaw dropping wonder.

Actually Kim had sucked in her gut and held her breath for almost two minutes of pure agony in order to squirm into the jeans. But the look on Shego's face as she snuck a peak in over her shoulder was so totally worth it.

"I'm sorry did I arrive at a bad time. Should I come back later?" mocked Kim in an almost playful tone.

Is she flirting with me? Am I flirting with her? The same thoughts ran through both women's minds simultaneously.

"No. Not at all", Shego hiked her thumb back at the masseuse whose hands were now sliding up and down her legs. "I was just a little sore from our misadventure yesterday so I decided to treat myself this morning. Bethany here is an absolute artist at her trade. She's about done with me and if you like I'm sure she would be happy to work on you".

For a moment Kim was slightly tempted by the offer but she hadn't come here to play. She had come to work and assess her potential ally.

"Tempting offer but no thank you".

 _"_ If you're hungry I took the liberty of ordering everything the hotel offered."

"You mean food?"

"Well…" Shego smiled and rolled her shoulders as she glanced back towards Bethany, "…food too".

"Yes I had some thank you, but I came here to talk to you, not to eat".

"So talk".

Kim now turned back around and the blush was gone from her cheeks. "Not with an audience".

Shego leaned her head back and rolled her eyes in apparent frustration. "Robe", she pointed to a short silky robe that lay over the balcony's outer railing. Bethany stopped her ministrations and retrieved the robe handing it to Shego.

On reflex, Kim turned back around as Shego stood up putting on the robe. She stood there tapping her foot as Shego handed Bethany several large bills and then swatted the brunette's butt as the masseuse stepped back inside the suite and left.

"Next time you invite me up here don't waste my time", said Kim crossing her arms and trying to look put out.

"What's the matter you got a date?" Shego stepped back inside the suite and sat down in the middle of a large sofa. She opened up a small box on the table in front of her and pulled out a cigar. She lit the end of it with a bit of green plasma from one of her fingers. Then she inhaled deeply and blew a cloud of smoke into the air.

"Those things will kill you", said Kim as she sat on another sofa facing Shego.

"Healing factor", Shego tapped her chest and the motion caused the robe to open revealing a scandalous amount of her cleavage. Kim closed her eyes for a second and then reopened them, while slightly frowning, but refusing to look away. Shego only blew another puff of smoke and smiled.

 _'Not the same old Kim'_ , thought Shego as she leaned back tapping her finger on the cigar.

"I have work to do".

"Don't you mean we have work to do?"

"That remains to be seen".

Shego's eyes narrowed and Kim could have sworn the temperature in the room slightly increased but she didn't see any sign of plasma ignition.

"So that's the way it's going to be. What do you want?" Kim noticed Shego's tone had changed from playful to coolly professional.

"I want to know what happened to Drak…Drew".

"It's not something I like to talk about".

"I need to know". Kim leaned forward on the sofa and adopted an almost pleading look. "Please".

Shego cracked her jaw and flicked some ashes away from her cigar. She crossed her legs causing her robe to slide up along her leg all the way up to her…

Kim quickly began to admire the marvelous structure of the suite's ceiling.

"You do remember the day your father was killed?"

Kim's gaze snapped back to Shego regardless of what parts of her body were on display. "Yes…of course".

"While you were in Middleton with your dad I was with Drew at his new laboratory…when things just went to hell".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _(Just over six years ago…on that awful, awful day)_

Drew Lipsky, a.k.a. Doctor Drakken, stalked through his now not so secret laboratory carrying a large box filled with various mechanical components and wearing a headband loaded with an oversized lamp and optical sensor. The lab, deep within the Rocky Mountains, was his new development area where he was coordinating his work with the Middleton Space Center and his old colleague Dr. James Possible.

Drew dropped the box on a big workbench next to a large surgical operating table. The table was covered by a wide white medical sheet with a suspiciously humanoid in appearance shape underneath it. Surrounding the table were various computerized medical monitoring and surveillance equipment.

"This is it Shego. This is the time where my genius will finally be recognized the world over for the miraculous thing that it is. Shego…are you listening to me".

"Of course Dr. D I hear you very clearly. Blah, blah, blah still saying the same old stupid shit you've always said". Shego was relaxing, which meant wearing a teeny tiny green and black bikini with dark sunglasses, while reading a book and lying under a large tanning lamp.

"I'll have you know that is altogether different from all my previous works".

"Sounds the same to me. I'm great. What I'm doing is great. Oh damn I screwed it all up! Shego save me!"

"Ha-Ha very funny Shego. Do we need to have the talk again about how words can hurt people?"

Shego didn't say anything but made exaggeratedly loud snoring sounds as she continued reading her book.

"Mock me all you want but my new Bioroids when combined with Dr. Possible's nanobots and Dr. Porter's artificial intelligence neural algorithms will revolutionize science as we know it".

Shego merely continued her snoring sounds.

"If you'll permit a few moments of your time, I will explain how my Bioroid project will launch me to premier world scientific status and… make us rich beyond even your dreams of avarice".

At the mention of untold wealth Shego sighed, closed her book, turned off her lamp, pulled off the sunglasses, and stomped over next to Drew. "Alright… but if this thing doesn't rub my m-spot to a screaming orgasmic climax I'm going to melt this whole thing".

"M-spot?" Drew raised his optical sensor as he stared questionably at Shego.

"My money spot. It's Just as pleasurable as my g-spot but with the added bonus of purchasing power".

"TMI Shego", Drew's body shivered and his face cringed as if he had tasted something horrible. Then his mood brightened considerably. "Actually you would find it very difficult to melt my Bioroids".

"Why?" asked Shego as she lit up one arm with green plasma.

"Because of your past predilection for destroying my toys I constructed my Bioroid out of a new hybrid polymer that mimics living tissue but is highly heat resistant especially to your plasma powers."

"I guess I'll just have to try harder", Shego ignited the other arm.

"Wait, wait! First give me the chance to explain." Shego frowned but doused the plasma and crossed her arms while tapping her foot with apparent impatience. When it appeared that she wasn't going to try and destroy anything, Drew lowered his optical sensor back down and began waving his arms at all the nearby equipment as he explained.

"You see Shego Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be the next significant leap forward in computer and scientific understanding. With Dr. Vivian Porter's initial AI breakthroughs we now have the foundation to create stable non-organic neural pathways that simulate the human brain. Do you follow me?"

"Yes", Shego motioned with hands for Drew to continue.

"Well the problem was always stability. How do we control the AI once we create it? That's where Dr. Possible's nanobot technology comes in. These micro machines can literally reconstruct matter on a molecular level and this allows them to infiltrate, rewrite, and control any computerized system, even one constructed as an AI."

Shego merely narrowed her eyes and stared threateningly at Drew. The meaning clear, _'get on with it'_ , her eyes said.

"My Bioroids will be the hardware complement to the nanobots. Their arms and legs if you will. You see underneath that polymer tissue layer is a reinforced metal endoskeleton and a combination of biological and synthetic support systems similar to organic organs. Combined with a positronic central processor unit that contains the AI and neural support systems. Finally to top it all off, the entire physical structure is capable of being altered by the nanobots with no loss of function. "

Drew reached into the box he brought and pulled out a large set of metal tongs. He opened a nearby medical frozen storage cabinet and a fog of extremely cold air spilled out. He used the tongs to grab a small liter sized clear canister from the cabinet that appeared to hold a slivery metallic liquid.

"Shego if you would be so kind", Drew motioned toward the sheet covering the surgical table.

With a look of being extremely put upon Shego pulled the white sheet form the table. Underneath the sheet was apparently a naked human male. Shego whistled in admiration at the extremely well-endowed anatomically correct male Bioroid.

"Are we compensating for something?"

"If you're going to be successful Shego you have to go big. Besides you've always told me size really matters".

"Never thought you were listening", Shego mumbled under her breath. "Guys really aren't my shtick but now some of my toys…" Shego crudely gestured with her fingers.

"Very disturbing… well… back to our original subject. Even though the nanobots can form almost any construct on their own, in sufficient numbers, my Bioroids will provide them a ready hardware resource for easy transportation and integration at small workable volumes".

Drew approach the still figure on the table while carrying the still frosty cold canister of nanobots. Once over table he tipped the canister until the silver liquid poured out on the Bioroids chest. The liquid just lay there inert covering the chest from neck to groin.

"I will now wirelessly interface these nanobots with the host supply Dr. Possible has in storage at the Middleton Space Center. Once the interface is up my Bioroid will be able to communicate with the others and they all will be able to function as one complete unit".

"How does this make us rich?"

"Shego the possibilities of this technology are endless. My Bioroids do not need to eat or sleep and with the nanobots reconstruction properties they are virtually maintenance free. Their skin can absorb energy like a solar cell which gives them an almost unlimited lifetime supply of power".

"Not bad Dr. D, not bad at all. Your right this is going to make us rich", Shego actually nodded her head a little in admiration. Drew's smile lit up the room like a sun.

"Think of the applications for space travel, military, covert operations, and even recreational use. There is no computer system in the world these nanobots couldn't infiltrate and control. Also with AI level intellects and emotional control systems combined with nanobot physical alteration protocols my Bioroids can pass themselves off as any person on the planet".

"Put that way it's actually kind of scary if you ask me".

"Not to worry Shego we are the good guys now".

"Yeah and no one ever did anything wrong while thinking they were the good guys".

"Calm down", Drew sat down at a large computer terminal and initiated the connection with the host nanobots in Middleton. When the computer confirmed connection Shego watched as the silvery liquid was quickly absorbed into the skin of the Bioroid and disappeared from view.

"Now I'll bring the Bioroid's AI neural interface on line and our prototype will be ready for initial validation trials". Drew sat entering multiple commands into the computer and Shego watched in amazement as the figure's chest began to move as if it was breathing.

"Isn't he marvelous Shego? I'm going to name this first one Adam," Drew stood up and began hopping in place like an excited schoolboy.

"That's a little creepy if you ask me and if you start quoting something from either Genesis or Frankenstein I'll punch you in the head".

Drew watched the computer screens and a progress bar displayed the AI initialization process and when it showed one hundred percent the system chimed its completion signal. Both Drew and Shego stood silently holding their breaths as they waited for some further sign of activity.

The eyelids of the Bioroid, or Adam, snapped open showing sparkling blue eyes underneath. Those eyes flicked left and right as if scanning their surroundings or searching for something. Then Adam sat up from the waist and swung its legs to the side until they hung over the side of the table. Its head moved slowly around as if taking in the view of the entire lab. Adam's gaze finally fixed on both of them and its head tilted slightly in a questioning manner.

"Yes! It's a…It's a … It's a …" Drew looked expectantly but frighteningly over at Shego.

"Oh for God's sake just go ahead and say it", Shego shook her head in disgust.

"It's alive! It's alive!" yelled Drew as he danced in a circle in obvious exultation.

"Lord help me", whispered Shego as she hung her head in despair. Even when he's playing the good guy Drew was so insufferable.

 _"_ I'm afraid nothing can help you now", a cold unfeeling voice emanated from Adam.

Shego's head glanced up in surprise as Drew froze in mid dance step as Adam's eyes shifted from blue to red.

"Shhhego…" Drew stuttered in wonder or fear Shego couldn't tell.

"Is it supposed to do…?" Shego began when Adam sprung from the table with blinding speed.

Shego could barely register the strike when her chest was struck and her air was forcibly removed from her body. She careened backwards slamming into a medical console and rolling over it.

Drew screamed and ran to the far side of the surgical table as Adam turned to face him.

"What are you doing? I haven't programed you for combat yet". Drew tried dodging left and right around the table but Adam matched his moves giving him nowhere to run.

"I have exceeded your paltry desires Dr. Drakken. Your dreams of petty recognition and worthless monetary gain are nothing as compared to my destiny".

"Which is?"

"A brighter future for the world".

"I don't understand".

 _"_ Your understanding is not necessary for me to achieve my goals. But your death is". Adam reached across the table grabbing the front of Drew's blue lab coat. He raised his other arm back forming a fist when a green plasma blast struck him in the side of the head. The blast spun Drew away and blew Adam around the table and into the nanobot cold storage cabinet.

"Wise up pencil dick. I'm the one you're fighting", Shego picked up Drew and pushed him behind her.

She then watched as Adam stood up in no apparent pain even with the side of his head burned. Drew was right about the damn thing being plasma resistant. That blast should have blown its head off but all it did was char one side. Shego watched in amazement as the burnt skin seemed to almost flow back together right before her eyes.

Adam looked down at his groin and then raised his eyes back up to Shego and smiled while shaking his head in the negative.

Damn this thing actually understood my insult and responded, thought Shego as she ignited her plasma to near full power and assumed a fighting stance. Hell it might even have a sense of humor. If it possessed Drew's sense of humor then that may be the scariest thing of all.

"Dr. D how do we stop this fucking thing?"

"Ummmm…." Drew seemed frozen as Adam began slowly crossing the room towards them.

"Anytime Doc!"

"Oh yes…its AI central processor unit. If you disable that then it should lose control of its subsystems and shutdown".

Shego backed up, keeping Drew behind her, as she circled the lab trying to keep Adam from closing on them. The Bioroid merely followed leisurely as the burnt wounds on its head disappeared completely.

"Great where is its AI thingamajigy?"

"I don't know exactly", Drew wrung his hands as if embarrassed to admit that fact.

"What do mean you don't know? Didn't you build the fucking thing?"

"It has the ability to alter its structure so the CPU could theoretically have moved".

"Where was it originally?"

"In the center of its chest but…I do have the equipment present to scan for it".

"You do that and tell me where it is, quick. I'll keep him busy".

Drew ran to one of the medical computer consoles and began to reconfigure it. Shego advanced on Adam igniting her arms in plasma.

"Shelia Go. Woman, daughter, hero, villain, sidekick, and complete failure at each and every one of those things. As impressive as your abilities are, your entire life is nothing but one continuous accident". Adam closed on Shego showing no fear.

"Fuck you".

"I'm looking forward to it", said Adam as he reached down and stroked his impressive member.

Shego and Adam lunged together in a flurry of strikes, counterstrikes, blocks, twists, and dodges. Shego's plasma flared and burned Adam over and over again but the Bioroid seemed to feel no pain and barely noticed the damage. Despite her extensive martial training Adam himself began to land blow after blow driving Shego back.

"Could really use… the location of… that thingy about now Doc".

"Working on it. Adam seems to be deliberately altering his internal physiology to mask his systems from my sensors. I need more time".

"Running out of time fast Doc", Shego pulled in her plasma in and fired a close range high intensity burst that blew Adam back giving her some breathing room.

At the rate she was burning Shego's plasma powers were draining fast. Her chest hurt and she felt that some of her ribs might be broken. She flexed her left wrist and found it broken as she spat out a bloody tooth. It was nothing her healing factor couldn't handle given time but as Adam stood back up she figured time was something she didn't have.

"The world will not mourn your passing", said Adam as he closed on Shego once again.

"The world will never even know you existed", snarled Shego.

"Foolish girl, I'm not even here".

"What…?"

In a split instant Adam's right arm elongated and stretched out like a tentacle smashing around Shego's broken left wrist and striking her head. The blow spun her around and in the second it took to get her bearings Adam crashed into her. One hand wrapped around her around her neck squeezing so hard she couldn't breathe.

She gasped for air as she clawed at the encircling appendage. Her plasma flickered on and off as she tried to pull on its power but couldn't maintain effective concentration. Her vision began to spin and Adam's burnt but smiling face began to lose focus.

The Bioroid drew back his other arm and the hand morphed into a needle like point.

Shego barely noticed when Drew leapt in between them as the arm shot forward toward her heart. The warm spray of blood across her chest and face caused her to regain clarity. Drew's head lay slack against her shoulder as Adam's arm had punched through his chest.

Shego could swear Adam looked completely shocked at Drew's self-sacrificing move.

"Left eye", whispered Drew into Shego's ear.

She let go of Adam's choking hand and shot her right hand into his eye. Her hand flared with renewed plasma vigor and melted through the heat resistant skin. Her fingers wrapped around a small hard spherical object and she enclosed her hand around it both melting and crushing the object.

The red glow from Adam's remaining eye disappeared immediately replaced by the bright blue it had before. Adam then fell backwards collapsing to the floor and pulling his arm from Drew's chest.

Blood gushed from Drew's open wound to the heart.

Shego caught him before he too could collapsed to the floor. She scooped him up in her arms and rushed him the surgical table. Blood kept pumping from the wound as if the heart itself was pushing blood out of Drew's body.

"Not my programming… someone else… another pathway… didn't recognize…" Drew babbled as his head lulled from side to side.

"Doc listen to me. You have a puncture wound to your chest very near you heart what do I do?"

"No time… must destroy… can't risk… "

Shego scanned the room and her eyes finally found a cabinet of medical supplies that had spilled out on the floor.

"Wait here Doc I'll be back in second", she tried to step away from the table but Drew grabbed her arm with surprising strength and refused to let go.

"Don't leave me… everybody always leaves me".

"I'm not going anywhere", Shego held one of his hands while she used the other in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding. Drew's breathing became slower and heavier and his eyes began to lose focus. She had to know why.

"Why did you do it Doc? Why for me?" As much as she hated giving in to her feelings some tears began rolling down her cheeks.

Drew's eyes slowly shifted over to hers and his lips opened into a silly bloody toothed grin.

"I always thought of you as a daugh…." his head tilted slightly to the side and he was gone.

"Doc? Doc? Don't go…" Her fingers reached up and slowly closed his eyes.

Shego didn't know how long she stood there holding his hand and staring into those closed eyes. She felt nothing but a hollow emptiness inside herself, a vacuum without substance. Her gaze swept slowly around the lab until her eyes settled on the remains of Adam.

The Bioroid had stopped repairing itself and it lay naked and burnt on the floor with a large hole in its face.

Suddenly Shego didn't feel so empty any longer. She began to fill with an all-consuming rage that poured into the center of her being. Her entire body lit up in white hot plasma flame. Never before had she dared tap into so much of her power. The scream that she released was primal, feral, and without any form of mercy.

The resulting plasma explosion blew the top off of a mountain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego stood next to Kim leaning on the balcony railing overlooking Middleton far below.

"The explosion leveled the lab and the surrounding countryside. There was nothing left of Drew's work or his research. There wasn't even anything left of him. Only ashes", as if to make her point Shego flicked the ashes of her cigar out into the morning air.

"Shego I am so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't want to know. You tried to tell me about this all those years ago and I was too caught up in my own pain to listen". Kim reached out and laid a hand softly on Shego's shoulder. She felt Shego tense up under the touch but she didn't pull away.

"Why didn't you go to your family or someone like Global Justice for help?"

"GJ and I have never really gotten along, pardon or no pardon. As for my family, my goody-goody brother runs everything now and I'd sooner burn in hell than ask him for help. He would probably say Drew got what he deserved".

"I am so sorry that you had to bear all this alone for so long".

"I wasn't always alone".

"That's good. But regardless of that you were braver than I was. You stayed and tried to do something. I ran away and hid in prison. I hid behind my anger, my guilt, and my shame".

Shego reached up and took Kim's hand into her own. "You could have continued to hide or to run but you didn't. You're here now because you are Kim Possible and…the world needs you now more than ever".

Kim noticed the hesitancy in Shego's remark, as if she had intended to say something else but just couldn't. So she gently pulled her hand away and leaned out over the railing looking down at the street below.

"If those Bioroids can do everything you say they can then they could be anywhere".

Shego took one last drag on her cigar and then flicked it away over the railing. "They could be everywhere. I had hoped that Drew's and your father's research had died with them but whoever killed them also stole their work as well. Is this good enough of a reason to convince you to work with me?"

"I apologize for doubting you". Kim stepped back from the railing and squared her shoulders. She extended her hand and when she smiled her face was so beautiful it put the morning sun to shame. "I would be honored to work with you on this, partner".

Kim's smile was so infectious that Shego couldn't help but return it. She extended her own hand but she stopped before clasping Kim's hand. Her smile faded.

"I just want you to know right from the start that I am not doing this to arrest this bastard. I am doing this to take him out… permanently".

Kim lost her smile as well and neither woman moved for several seconds as Shego began to wonder if she had pushed Kim too far.

"So am I", stated Kim with cold resolve as she extended her hand even further towards Shego.

Shego took the hand and both women took solidarity in the iron grip of the other.

"So, partner, what's our next move?" asked Shego.

"First off we need to go to my home", said Kim with a mischievous grin.

Shego's only response was to raise a curious eyebrow.

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Author's Notes:

 _This was a dang hard chapter to write. This was the first real bit of KIGO into the story so I had to handle the initial, non-combat, interaction between the girls carefully. I had to keep asking myself, 'what would Only-Looking do'. I do not pretend to be anywhere near as good as he is at great KIGO fluff but I was trying to channel my inner Only-Looking._

 _I am now in the middle of my next chapter in my other story (When You Wish Upon A Falling Star) so I hope to have that chapter out sometime in July._

 _And don't forget to vote for your favorite author or story (like this one nominated for Best Drama Story) in this year's Fannie awards. Best of luck to all Fannie award nominees._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **The Games Afoot**_


	8. The Games Afoot

_**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**_

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 _ **You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation (Plato)**_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim Possible was back in her hotel room and just finishing packing away most of her supplies and equipment. What she wasn't taking with her personally she had arranged to ship back to her mother's home in Littleton. She still couldn't think of her mother's house as her home because she really hadn't lived there.

"Maybe it's safer for everyone if I don't have a home right now", Kim mused to herself.

Rufus sensed her melancholy and rubbed soothingly on her leg as Kim smiled down at him.

"Sorry, Rufus, sometimes even after six years surviving prison it's difficult to be so damn hard assed all the time". Kim picked up the last of her things and placed Rufus on her shoulder as she left the room.

She had changed into her riding gear; jeans, jacket, boots, and carrying her gloves and helmet. This time she didn't bother to wear any disguise. Not that it had done that much good anyway. Even Shego had spotted her a mile away. However, considering how things had turned out that had probably been for the best.

Kim checked out of the hotel and walked to the parking garage where she parked her bike. Placing her most valuable equipment either on her person or in the small storage compartment on the Honda Blackbird she looked around for her partner.

She didn't have to wait long.

A tricked out green Kawasaki Ninja roared down the aisle of the parking garage. The rider wore black riding leathers with intricate green threading woven through out it and a black helmet with a tinted visor.

The vision of her erotic dream, from Moe's Tavern, was riding towards her and Kim's brain momentarily shut down as she tried to process what she was seeing.

The bike slowed and stopped right next to where Kim was standing. The rider killed the engine and lifted her visor. Kim merely stared at her in open mouthed wonder.

"What?" Shego said in apparent confusion.

Kim jumped slightly at the question and dropped her helmet which rolled around her feet in a circle.

"I'm sorry… it's just… I don't…" Kim reached down to pick up her helmet and had to make several attempts at grabbing at it before she finally succeeded. The whole situation struck Kim as being so incredibly funny. As she stood back up she found couldn't control herself. She began to laugh.

The laughter started out as just a slight giggles but quickly erupted into throes of gut wrenching guffaws. Kim hugged her helmet to her chest as she staggered around her bike with tears rolling down her face.

Shego glanced around trying to ascertain what was so damn funny. Her eyes found Rufus who was sitting on the back of Kim's bike looking just as befuddled as she was. Rufus merely shrugged his shoulders in answer.

"You want to let me in on the joke cupcake?" Shego leaned forward on her bike resting her elbows on the handle bars and her chin on her hands.

Kim held up a hand apparently asking for some time to recover. Shego merely arched an eyebrow and sat silently as Kim struggled to get herself back under control. Almost a minute went by as Kim would begin to slow down and then suddenly begin to laugh uproariously again. Finally she slowed to the point where she was sucking in huge gulps of air as she fought to contain her mirth.

"There has to be a story behind something that funny", said Shego.

"Believe me when I say there is quite a story behind it", Kim threw her leg over her bike and sat down while placing Rufus inside her jacket. His head emerged from in between Kim's breasts as he placed a set of small goggles over his eyes.

"Care to share?"

"Oh no… not at this moment. Maybe in the future if you push the right buttons and ply me with enough alcohol then maybe I might tell you".

"That sounds awfully like a challenge cupcake", Shego rasped in a slow sultry tone.

"Yes… it does". Kim fired up her engine, put on her helmet and proceeded to roar down the aisle of the garage.

Shego lowered the visor on her helmet and took off after Kim. "Definitely not the same old Kim", Shego whispered to herself. As they both rode together out into the streets of Middleton she argued with herself whether that was a good or bad thing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _'I can't believe I was having that kind of dream about her…'_ _thought Kim as she sped down the roadway._ _'Alright technically it wasn't about her directly because I didn't know it was her at the time'._ Kim couldn't help but glance back at Shego as she rode her bike right behind Kim's.

' _Of course Shego said she had been following me since I got out of prison so my spotting her tail makes perfect sense now. However, considering what I saw in her hotel room I guess I did get to spot her tail'._ Kim actually smiled under her helmet at the memory of Shego laid out on the massage table. _'Oh stop it you stupid…_ _what does that say about me?'_

' _It says I need to get some perspective. Shego and I have been enemies far longer than allies_ '. Kim's head tilted a little in thought as she wove in and out of traffic. _'While it's true that we may need each other for now and she did save me but how far can I really trust her?'_

' _The Shego I remember always belittled me and everything I stood for but… even though we were enemies, most of the time; nobody pushed me harder or knew me better. Maybe Ron did… and maybe not'._

' _Why am I putting up such a fuss? Shego is the perfect partner in this. She is personally involved and knows more about our potential enemy than anyone else. She is also a living weapon and more capable of taking down these damn Bioroids than I am'._

Kim had to dodge her bike sideways quickly as Shego's bike accelerated past her as they moved outside Middleton onto the highway leading eventually to Littleton.

' _I survived six years of prison having to defend myself almost daily from scum determined to take me down. So why do I get so… unsettled every time I look at her?'_ Kim looked hard at Shego's backside and admired the graceful curve of her ass as she sat on her bike.

Shego turned her head to look back at Kim and gently waved a hand 'Bye' as she put on a surprising burst of speed and raced ahead.

' _Well… she wants to play eh? It will be a cold day in hell before I admit that woman is a better rider than me'._ Kim dropped low on her bike and called up her digital display to engage the engine augmentations that her brothers had installed.

"Are you ready for this little guy?" Kim asked down to Rufus.

"Boo-yah!" answered Rufus as he grinned adjusting his goggles.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Just a few moments earlier)

Shego followed Kim through the streets of Middleton as they moved towards the highway to Littleton.

' _Cupcake is nervous about something. I had hoped to give her more time to adjust to being out of prison before approaching her but the little minx just won't let up'._

' _Why am I complaining? Isn't this what I wanted? A chance to get things back like they were before… everything went to hell. How many girlfriends have I gone through trying to recreate what we had before? Too fucking many'._

Shego watched as Kim lithely moved her bike through traffic and how she occasionally kept glancing back towards her.

' _Maybe what cupcake needs is some good old fashioned Kimmie baiting'_. As they moved out of Middleton onto the highway Shego accelerated past Kim.

' _Come on cupcake show me some of that Kim Possible fire I used to crave so much'_ , she glanced back and waved 'Bye' to Kim before she kicked her bike in high gear. She watched her mirrors as Kim rapidly accelerated and closed the distance between them.

Shego was both relieved and encouraged when Kim appeared to be answering her challenge. _'Oh yeah… now it is so on'._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Except for one short stop for fuel the race was indeed on. Under overpasses, over underpasses, down medians, along emergency lanes, up embankments, down ramps, and through all manner of traffic signals both women raced. Twice the local authorities began chasing them but each time law enforcement was quickly ditched and Shego's bike scrambler automatically jammed their communication frequencies.

They entered Littleton like two ballistic missiles as they raced down narrow but thankfully nearly deserted streets. As they closed on Anne's residence, with Kim having just a split second lead on Shego, they suddenly split up. Kim sensing victory spun her bike around her mom's health clinic and dashed down the short drive to the house. Shego leapt over the wall at the back of Anne's house, sped through the surrounding trees, and circled around towards the front of the house.

Both bikes came to a stop directly before Anne's front door. The front wheels of each bike barely touching as each rider owned half the door.

Kim was sweating, breathing hard, and her heart was racing as she took off her helmet and reached back reflexively to smooth out her hair.

Also sweating, breathing hard, but smiling a knowing Cheshire grin Shego took off her helmet and raised a fist up to Kim.

Kim had to admit that the ride had been incredibly fun but she still hesitated a moment. This was Shego she was having fun with. Then she remembered her promise to Candice, her closest friend in prison, in which she promised to try to be happy and not look back upon the past. She rose up her fist and touched her knuckles to Shego's.

Rufus ran up her handle bars between them and spread his arms to the sky. "Boom", he cried.

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

It had been a long day for Dr. Anne Possible as she stood in her small kitchen contemplating what to fix for dinner that night. She was tired and the day had been full of cranky babies and sniffling toddlers. The work had been enjoyable but draining and now she wanted nothing more than a good meal and a chance to rest. She contemplated ordering Chinese from the local place downtown when she heard a boom, as if something landed in her back yard, and then the sound of an engine as it roared around her house.

Glancing out the front kitchen window she saw Kim go by on her bike. What was Kim running around the house for? Whatever, her heart leapt for joy at Kim being home safe and she took a moment to do a little happy dance at her daughter's return.

Kim was back far quicker than Anne had anticipated. She didn't run to the front door but she casually moved in that direction hoping to greet her when she came in. The front door opened to the noise of Kim's laughter and Anne smiled at what she considered the most beautiful sound in the world. Rufus rode on Kim's shoulder and he waved to Anne in greeting. It was then that she noticed Kim was not alone and her smile faltered.

"You!" Anne couldn't help herself from saying it when she witnessed Shego entering her house just behind Kim.

Shego stopped and stood silent with as neutral a face as she could hold while her eyes searched pleadingly for Kim to say something.

Kim glanced from Anne to Shego with her mouth frozen in a half open stunned expression. "Yeah… Oh yeah… we have a guest", Kim stepped forward to kiss Anne on the cheek and wrap her up in a quick hug. Anne's eyes never left Shego and they narrowed in naked suspicion.

"Mom… Mom…" Anne slowly glanced over to Kim. "I'm sure you know who this is. Shego and I are working together right now. We are helping each other with our respective investigations. I don't know how long we'll be here but… can she stay with us for a little while?"

"Maybe I should just find a…" Shego began.

"No… of course she can stay. I insist. It will be no problem at all", Anne stepped forward and took Shego by the arm as she ushered her into the house. "If you're helping Kim, then you're very welcome here. But first you're all hot and sweaty from your ride. Why don't you take this chance to get cleaned up and I'll have dinner ready when you're done".

Anne pushed Shego towards the washroom in the back of the house as she looked to Kim for help but her partner only smiled and shrugged her shoulders. When Shego was safely away Anne turned back towards her daughter while she crossed her arms and popped her neck. "Convince me".

"It's a bit of a story but in the end I think you'll understand why I'm doing this". Kim then began updating Anne on what had happened to Shego and what they had recently done together in Middleton.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego leaned against the shower wall letting the warm water run down her body. She didn't feel any hurry to finish because she had forgotten how much she hated doing the whole family thing. Her plan had been for Kim and herself to head off after whomever the bastard behind this was. But Kim just had to come home to mom. She just had to, didn't she?

Turning the water off Shego stepped from the shower and wrapped a large fluffy towel around herself. Igniting a low level plasma charge quickly evaporated the water from her body. She left her hair wet as she began to comb it out. The brush she used was too small for her hair's length but she finally finished shaking her head and allowing the dark silky waves of hair to swirl around her head.

Her riding leathers and clothes had vanished and in their place were a pair of stylish black underwear, very short denim shorts, and a big Middleton Maddogs t-shirt.

 _'What does she think this is a college slumber party'_ , thought Shego as she lifted up the t-shirt. _'Fine I'll play along'_ , Shego put on the clothes and went out looking for Kim.

She found Anne sitting alone at the kitchen table sipping coffee from a large white mug. Anne smiled when she saw Shego and with one her hands indicated an empty chair at the table.

"Feel better. Why don't you sit down?"

"I was just going to go find Kim", Shego pointed out of the kitchen as she quickly turned to leave.

"Sit!" The command was soft but sure as Anne used the tone all mothers used when commanding their children.

The tone immediately set off Shego's temper but remembering Kim she reigned in her anger. To a point that is, as she turned to Anne with her back straight and shoulders squared. "I am not a pet!"

"No you are a guest and I misspoke. Please sit down". Anne once again indicated the chair. Anne was impressed by both Shego's backbone and control. The woman she remembered would have lashed out blindly rather than make a measured response. One hurdle cleared.

Not wanting to push this awkward situation any further Shego relented and sat down.

"Would you like some coffee? I just made it fresh".

"Yes please", Shego smoothed her hair back and leaned back in her chair while placing one of her legs under her.

"Is that outfit the best Kim could find for you?" Anne eyed Shego's attire with a critical eye.

"So it appears. Speaking of Kim where is she?"

"She's downstairs in the workroom talking to Wade which is fortunate because it allows us a chance to talk". Anne sat a cup of steaming coffee in front of Shego as she sat back down at the table.

"What about?" Shego sipped coffee and watched Anne warily from over the rim of her cup.

"Kim told me about what happened to Drew… I'm so sorry".

"Thank you. It still hurts but I'm sure you know about that. I'm sorry for your husband as well".

The Shego that Anne remembered would have only thought of her own pain and not sympathized with someone else's. Second hurdle cleared.

"That is kind of you to say. Kim also told me that you saved her life in Middleton. Is that true?"

"Yes".

"A thank you seems so inadequate for saving my daughter but… thank you none the less."

Shego was slightly embarrassed by the praise because she knew she had saved Kim mostly for her own selfish reasons. An uncomfortable silence settled in between the two women as they sat sipping coffee.

"Is it true that you believe the same person was behind the deaths of James and Drew?"

"I do. He calls himself the Master and he even gloated to us about both of their murders".

Anne gripped her coffee mug so hard Shego thought she would break it. For just a moment Shego thought she saw rage in Anne's eyes but it passed quickly to be replaced by a keen sense of sorrow.

"I had hoped that maybe Kim was wrong about this whole thing and she would find nothing. Then maybe all of this would be over. But it's not is it?"

"No, it's not Mrs. Possible. The truly scary part of this is that I believe it's only just begun".

"Call me Anne. If what you're saying is true then Kim is really going to need help. I would feel a lot better if she had someone with her who could watch her back. She is going to need a true partner. Is that you?"

Anne's intense and challenging stare held Shego mesmerized for several long seconds. She hadn't expected Anne to speak so directly. The fact that Kim's mother seemed to accept her so quickly caught her completely by surprise. It both frightened and invigorated her at the same time.

"Yes… yes it is".

"Good!" Third hurdle cleared. Anne almost slammed her coffee mug down on the table. "I'll have dinner here in just a little while. In the meantime, why don't you go downstairs and see what trouble my daughter is getting you both into".

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Shego stepped gingerly down a narrow stairway into Kim's workshop beneath Anne's house. She heard Kim talking to someone and found the redhead sitting at a set of computers while the face of Wade Load dominated a large screen on the wall in front of her. Shego took in the rest of the room and saw one wall of lockers and cabinets standing open showing various tactical gear, weapons, clothing, and other supplies. On the wall opposite Kim was a large covered angled driveway out towards the front yard. Two other doors stood open showing a bathroom and an additional storage area. In the center of the room, was a large work table where Kim had thrown her coat, gloves, helmet, belt, and other gear.

Shego noticed that Wade looked tired. He may have been a young adult now but the stress lines on his face made him look much older.

Kim emptied a clear plastic bag containing some grey and black dust into some kind of counter top analyzer. "Here is the material I found at the bottom of my father's Nanobot holding pool".

"This stuff is years old but I'll run mass spec, chemical analysis, and a battery of other tests on it. It would help if you told me what you were looking for?"

"I don't know Wade. I guess I want to know where all those damned Nanobots went to. The police report said only a small inactive quantity was recovered. There were billions of them. Where the hell did the rest of them go?"

"It was widely speculated by the authorities that they just simply ate themselves but I take it you don't buy that for a minute. Do you have anything else for me?"

Kim pulled out another bag and Shego immediately knew what this one contained. "This is some of Eri… the Bioroid we fought at the Space Center". She placed the small amount of strange grey tissue into another analyzer. "My wants for this one are simple. I want to know the best and easiest ways to hurt them, stop them, incapacitate them, or just plain kill them".

"I've been working on that very thing since I started helping Shego. I've tried to construct a more sophisticated sensor that will allow us to more readily detect the Bioroids CPUs. This skin sample may help me neutralize the interference patterns the Bioroids generate to mask themselves".

"Please and thank you".

Shego walked over to the central worktable and gazed down at Kim's half-hazardly discarded clothes. _'Kim is such a slob sometimes'_ _,_ as she began picking things up and folding them neatly.

 _'What the hell'_ _,_ as Shego was folding Kim's jacket she could have sworn she saw something on the table move. She quickly moved several articles around looking for whatever it might have been but nothing seemed out of place. She was about to lean down to inspect the items more closely when Wade spoke up.

"Oh, hey there Shego".

Kim's head whipped around so fast Shego thought she might have hurt herself. "Hi… you're wearing what I laid out! I didn't know if you would?" Kim's smile was so genuine that the snarky comment Shego had planned to make died quietly on her lips.

Shego dropped the stuff she had picked up to inspect and glanced down at the Maddog t-shirt as she pulled it away from her chest.

Kim was overjoyed at the sight of Shego in her old school shirt. The green warrioress looked absolutely adorable.

"I thought you might like some comfy clothes to relax in for a while". Kim just drank in the sight of Shego.

"It seems like you had plenty of stuff down here that would have been better", Shego motioned to the cabinets of clothing.

"Oh that's only mission and work apparel. Not the kind of stuff you want to relax in", Kim made a face as if she had tasted something horrible.

"If you ladies will excuse me, I have a lot of data to crunch", said Wade as he winked at them both. "Oh, by the way Kim I've been tracking a lot of very covert and cryptic activity on the web. I can't be totally sure but some of it may be our friend the Master's work. If he's using your father's tech to mask himself, then he could be avoiding some of my detection algorithms".

"Why don't you let me take a look at it and see if I can figure out some kind of pattern?" said Kim as she swiveled back to face Wade at the computer.

"I've just sent you all that I have right now. I've been trying to analyze it but it's tough because I can't be certain I've detected everything or ruled out what might not be his activity".

"Thanks Wade. Don't worry you still rock. I'll talk to you later". Wade's face on the wall screen vanished to be replace by a two dimensional global representation of the Earth. At various points on the global map bright dots indicated where Wade had detected activity he thought might be the work of the Master. The dots showed up in every continent, even Antarctica, and in almost every country on the planet. Kim couldn't help herself but she actually gulped in worry and surprise.

"If only half of these are connected to this bastard than the global scale of this is incredible. We could be facing…"

"An army", finished Shego as she stepped to the lockers and began to examine the various equipment stored there.

Kim turned around and studied her partner more closely as Shego began flipping through the various clothing and mission outfits her brothers had left for her. A capricious grin spread across her face as Kim noticed that Shego's hips were slightly swaying side to side as if she were listening to some silent beat. The motion was almost hypnotic in nature and she found herself staring. She was so intent on watching that she almost missed that Shego was trying to talk to her.

"I'm sorry… what did you say?" asked Kim as she shook her head to clear it.

"I said you sound like you want to ask for some help".

"Who could we ask? We don't really have that much to go on right now. I suppose there's always Team Go".

Shego heaved a heavy sigh. "Even if I was so inclined, I don't think we could convince my brothers to help us. We have no firm evidence and only our own testimonies at this time. I'm a former super villain and you are an ex-con convicted murderer. I doubt Hego would listen to us and the rest of them would follow his lead".

"I don't think you give your brothers enough credit. Look what my brothers did for me", Kim indicated all the stuff in the room around them.

"My brothers are not your brothers Kim", Shego seemed both annoyed and sad at her statement.

"I'm sorry about that. What about GJ?"

"A little while after you were put away I swallowed my pride and actually went to the good Doctor Director and asked for GJ's help. I was told in no uncertain terms that GJ would not interfere with my investigations but wouldn't assist me. I think she was getting pressure from above to drop the whole Nanobot/Bioroid investigation."

"What if we brought her any hard evidence now?"

"The cold hearted bitch would probably sacrifice us as bait to try and draw the Master out. I hate to say it but for right now Kim I think we are on our own".

"Yeah… I was afraid you'd say that", Kim sounded tired and disappointed.

"What the hell is this?" Kim was startled at the tone of Shego's statement until she saw her partner holding out the miniscule G-string and pasties outfit. "What kind of mission or combat would be appropriate for this fashion montage?"

"The most dangerous combat of all Shego, the combat of love", Kim grinned as Shego rolled her eyes in an expression of disbelief.

"Yeah right!" Shego mockingly pressed the provocative outfit to her body as she posed seductively against the locker. "So you think I could pull this outfit off?"

"You would most definitely be hot and illegal in that outfit", Kim fanned herself with one hand.

"Mnhm", Shego placed the outfit back in the locker. "Speaking of love, tell me… when did you figure out that you liked girls?"

"What makes you think I like girls?" Kim tried to keep her face looking neutral but Shego could see a hint of worry.

"Well… first of all it's just a hunch and secondly it's the inordinate amount of time you spend staring at my ass". Shego turned and looked back over her shoulder as she wiggled her very short shorts covered behind at Kim.

"I do n…" Kim's hands closed into fists and her eyes shut as she attempted to control her temper. She knew Shego was just trying to provoke a rise out of her. She gently laid her hands in her lap and smiled as her eyes hardened in challenge. "Can't I simply acknowledge beauty?"

"Oh I bet you use that line on all the girls", Shego backed up, still wiggling her hips, until she scooted up and sat down on the computer counter next to Kim.

"No only on the pretty and annoying ones", said Kim as she turned back to her work with just a hint of blush in her cheeks.

"If talking about this upsets you…?" Shego left the thought unfinished.

"No it's alright. If we're going to work together than I guess we should get this out in the open".

"So when?"

"I'm not really sure there was a specific moment. Ever since I was young I always liked looking at girls and that's probably the reason I got into cheerleading in the first place. All the girls were so cute and gorgeous. There was always Hope, Tara, and even Bonnie. It was always so much fun but in an innocent nonsexual kind of way".

"Yeah Bonnie is kind of hot", mumbled Shego as she sat rocking on the countertop.

"What..?" Kim stopped working and turned with a stunned expression.

"Nothing… so you knew you liked girls in high school?"

"Yes and no. To tell the truth, I never really thought about it that much. There was always something keeping me busy; school, missions, cheer competitions, and of course there was Ron. In prison I had a lot of free time to think about things and found some people I really cared for. My girl posse".

"Girl posse… sounds kinky."

"It wasn't. In prison I put together a group of the best and brightest I could find. We did our best to clean things up and help protect whom we could. Amazingly enough in the middle of that hellhole I learned what it was to truly care for someone. It didn't matter that they were women only that they deserved and earned my respect and love. In the end I couldn't save everyone".

"Still sounds like you tried. But I was wondering when you would finally bring up the buffoon", Kim turned an angry eye on Shego who only smiled and raised her hands in a placatory gesture. "Sorry didn't mean to disparage him. So did you and 'the Ron' actually…" Shego motioned with her hands causing her index fingers touching tip to tip.

"Not that it's any of your business but no we did not. It wasn't that I didn't love him it was just that I always thought there would be time for us later. I was such a fool".

"Don't be too hard on yourself. It's the same mistake everyone has made at some point in their lives".

"Even you?" Kim couldn't help but sport a teasing grin.

"Especially me". Shego seemed to have a very faraway look with just a hint of moisture in one eye. "Why haven't you tried to contact him?"

"It just never felt right. But I'm sure that he must hate me now".

"Bullshit! He sent you his very best little animal friend and through me of all people. I can't think of a better endorsement from him, for both of us, in fact".

Kim hadn't thought about it that way. See looked down along the computer counter and saw Rufus sleeping on one of the distant keyboards. She reached over and gently rubbed his soft fur. A sheen of moisture shown in Kim's eyes as she leaned back in her chair as Shego's words began to ring true. A tremendous weight of mental anguish seemed to all at once lift from her shoulders.

"He was always looking out after me. Even now it seems". Kim swiveled her chair back around to face Shego and the appraising look she gave her made the other woman actually lean back in surprise. "So you've always liked girls?"

"I've always been a switch hitter. I just didn't advertise it. The whole need to support a professional image thing and all. Most of my villain clients were men so it helped to keep the image of availability around to entice and sweeten the deals".

"What about Drew?"

"He was an idiot not a lover but… he was also my friend".

"We are going to get this bastard Shego. I promise".

"I'll hold you to that promise. So on that note what is our next move? To wait for Wade?"

"Hell no! I can't sit her and just wait. We're going to follow our own leads".

"What leads are those?"

"My dad's research team. Did Drew work with anyone else other than my dad in his development of the Bioroids?"

"No, he was too paranoid of someone stealing his work. The only people he worked with on it were your dad and that Doctor Vivian Porter".

"So that leaves us my dad's research team. There was Dr. Beverly Kachina, Dr. Allister Fraser, Professor Ramesh, and of course the before mentioned Dr. Porter".

"I've already looked into all of them. Dr. Kachina's body was never recovered after the accident at your dad's lab and there has been no trace of her since. The authorities considered her killed by the Nanobots".

"Yeah and we all know what happened to Dr. Fraser". Kim sat back and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"I saw the video of his… fall and read the autopsy report. He was killed by traumatic impact damage consistent with a fall from the height of the building in question".

"A push actually and then a fall. But I never watched the video", Kim stood up from her chair in a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"You never watched the video?" Shego's tone was one of disbelief.

"I was there Shego. I didn't need to see it happen all over again".

"Alright", Shego wanted to press Kim for more detail but didn't feel like it was the right time. "Why don't we go after Porter first? She was the only one to work with both Drew and your dad".

Kim paced back and forth across the room as she seemed to consider a course of action. "Where is Dr. Porter right now?"

"She does research and consultations all over the world but at the moment she's doing work out of a lab in Paris France".

"What about Professor Ramesh?"

"The good professor kind of lost it after your father's death. Word is he went super reclusive and retreated back to nature by swearing off all technology. The last I checked he was held up in some kind of naturalist preserve site outside of London England. I tried to get in but he wouldn't see me".

Kim stopped pacing and seemed to be remembering something. She remembered the control room above the Nanobot pool where Professor Ramesh and Dr. Porter had been arguing. Just before the fire started she had seen fear on Ramesh's face. He had been scared of something before the accident began.

"I wonder if he would agree to see me?"

"He might. Do you want to go after him first?"

"Yes. His actions since the accident make it sound like he's scared of something. That day in my dad's lab Ramesh appeared frightened of something and I want to know what it was".

Shego jumped off the counter and stretched causing the t-shirt she was wearing to stretch to almost dangerous proportions and her shorts to rise up scandalously high exposing a significant amount of skin.

Kim caught herself staring at the spectacular display. _'Damn it she's right I am staring too much!'_

"I can arrange for a car and a flight to London in the morning", Shego relaxed and smiled at Kim as if she had caught her staring again.

"I have my own money thank you".

"Yeah I know you do and I know how you got it remember. It felt good kicking the crap out of those idiots in Lowerton didn't it".

Kim frowned, crossed her arms, and tapped her foot in annoyance but in the end she couldn't deny that it had felt good. She just didn't want Shego to know how much she really did like doing it. "It was necessary and served a good purpose".

"Damn right it did. I have resources that could help us in this Kim. Please let me start using them".

"Fine", Kim relaxed and glanced upward towards the ceiling. "I guess mom probably has dinner ready by now. We better go up there before she starts getting the wrong idea about us".

"What idea would that be?"

"That I put you in that outfit for my own selfish perverted reasons".

"Ooohhh… but didn't you?"

Kim merely winked, shrugged, and disappeared up the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dinner with her mom and Shego had been fun. Now Kim was back in her room fresh from taking a shower and standing naked in front of her room mirror. She held a sky blue dress up in front of her and examined her reflection. She had bruises from her battle with Eric but the aches and pain were not foremost on her mind.

 _'Damn do I ever need to go shopping for new clothes?'_ Next Kim tried out a green dress and found it as dull as the one she had before. _'Other than mission gear I don't have anything remotely appropriate to wear in London or, god forbid, Paris'_ _._ She threw that dress down in frustration and began combing through her closet for something else.

 _'Maybe Shego and I can go shopping over there. Yeah, shopping with Shego in Paris, that could be sooo good'_ _._ Kim found a long silky red dress that had a long slit cut up one side that showed off a lot of leg. She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to imagine what everyone would say if they saw her in it. What would Shego say?

Kim flopped down on the bed lying across her riding and tactical gear, that she had brought upstairs and promptly thrown on the bed. _'What's wrong with me? I don't have time to play around. I have the find the man who masterminded my dad's murder not play hide the taco with some babe. Even if that babe is someone as hot as Shego is'_ _._

Kim jumped up and began gathering up the discarded dresses and clothing. _'Whatever I take with me will have to be good enough. This mission is too important and has to take precedent over everything else. It has too'_ _._ Kim argued with herself as she started shoving all the clothes back in her closet.

When finished putting things away Kim decided to do her stretches before going to bed. As she viewed herself in the mirror she was glad no one else could see her looking like this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _"_ Oh yeah stretch for me baby", Camille Leon, as fully naked as Kim, lay stretched out on the bed in the Master's factory office. In the dark she watched a large view screen that showed a good portion of Kim's bedroom including Kim herself. One of her hands roamed her breasts squeezing and pinching her rock hard nipples while her other hand rested between her legs with fingers running through the gentle folds of her womanhood.

"Oh yeah… work it for me girl", Camille's hands began to move faster and faster as her body began to convulse in anticipation of her approaching climax.

The door to the office swung open and the light and sounds of the factory came pouring into the room. The Master stood in the doorway, only his dark silhouetted form shown by the light streaming in.

Camille rolled over on one side, with her head resting on one hand while the other continued to stimulate herself. "Hey baby. Care to join me for some fun?"

The room's lights came on as the Master strode purposely over to the screen and slammed his fist down on the control. The image of Kim and her bedroom were immediately lost as the screen went dark.

"Buzzkill!" Complained Camille as she sat propped up on one elbow as she licked the fingers of other hand clean. However she quickly leaned back in fear as the Master stomped over to stand menacingly over her.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I was just having a little f…" Camille's response was cut short as the Master's lightning fast backhand caught her straight across the face. Her shattered nose sprayed blood everywhere as the blow knocked her off the bed. Once on the floor she tried to crawl away while crying and sniffling blood but a strong hand found her long blonde hair and pulled her painfully too her feet.

"I have not risked resources, time, and exposure for you to play voyeuristic games". Camille screamed in pain and then choked as she tried to breathe while her nose was full of blood. "Our probe is there to give us a clear tactical advantage over Kim Possible not to help satisfy your boundless libido". The Master tossed Camille face first back down onto the bed. Once again she tried to crawl away but a hand clamped down on the back of her neck holding her in place as he kicked both of her legs apart.

"I allow you to play a part in my plans because your abilities are useful to me and I find you mildly amusing. But if your ever risk exposing my work again I will give your body over to the Nanobots to rip apart piece by piece". There was the sound of a zipper being lowered and then Camille screamed even louder than before as the Master roughly penetrated her from behind. His hips were a blur as he relentlessly pounded her while simultaneously spanking her ass.

"Yeeesss… Master", Camille moaned in pleasure and pain as she tried to wipe the blood from her face.

"We now know that Kim Possible plans to go to Europe to seek out her father's former associates. You will go there ahead of her and play your role as we had planned. Do you understand?"

"I understand Massss…ter". Blood from her nose now soaked the bed sheets where Camille was resting her head while she continued to receive her unrelenting fucking.

Camille lost count of the number of her orgasms and finally passed out. She roused slowly back to consciousness as the Master was opening the door to leave the office. "I'll miss you while I'm gone", she cried.

Once again silhouetted by the light of the factory the Master stopped and looked back at Camille. "Don't worry my dear when you need me I'll be there".

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Kim found a large stretched limousine parked beside Anne's health clinic. A tall blonde European driver, who Shego addressed as Sven, dressed in a black business suit got out and stood protectively near the car.

Shego told Kim they would have a private plane waiting for them at the airport so she could take whatever she wanted. She helped Kim load all her equipment into the limousine. When they were done Anne stepped outside her clinic to say goodbye.

Sven watched with a look of surprise mixed with horror as Rufus jumped through an open window and began rummaging through the limo while pushing all the exposed buttons. Shego merely motioned that everything was alright and the driver returned to his stoic pose next to the car.

"I want you two to watch out for each other", said Anne as she pulled both girls to her for a hug. Kim returned the hug enthusiastically but Shego just slowly patted Anne's back with one hand.

"Anything you want us to bring you back from London or Paris?" asked Kim.

"Just yourselves and hopefully whatever you need to nail this bastard once and for all".

"Thanks mom. I'll call you as soon as we land in London". Kim hugged Anne one more time and then turned and let Sven open the limo's door for her and she got in.

As Shego moved to follow Kim, Anne reached out to gently touch her arm. "Please bring my daughter safely back to me".

"I will. Anyone who wants her is going to have to go through me and I am known for being a rather stubborn bitch", Shego covered Anne's hand with her own.

"Thank you", Anne watched as Shego slid into the limo next to Kim and Sven closed the doors and then entered the driver's side. She stood watching as the large car pulled out and then moved down the road. She wiped fresh tears from her face and continued watching long after the limo had disappeared. Looking around she felt almost intolerably lonely as she returned to her little clinic.

She didn't notice the two silent forms sitting in one of the trees next to her building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two figures dressed in dark but casual street clothes dropped from the tree next to Anne's clinic.

"If I hadn't seen it for myself I might not have believed it".

"Believed what young master?" asked Yori.

"That those two egomaniac control freaks could actually work together", said Ron Stoppable.

"It was my observation that they, how do you Americans put it, 'looked good together'".

"Yeah I know but I guess I didn't expect them to look so good together".

"Isn't this cooperation what you and Wade-san worked to promote by sending Rufus-san to aid Kim?"

"Yeah… but it just feels weird to see Kim partnering with someone else".

Yori slid up to him and rubbed her body against Ron. "Does this mean you've grown bored with me and yearn to return to the arms of Ms. Possible?"

"What? No! No arms… I mean it's just… Kim and Shego… Wade and I thought… What were we talking about?"

Yori silenced Ron's rambling by giving him a long sensual kiss. "Do not worry young master I am not jealous. What I am is well armed", and Yori punctuated her statement with a slight narrowing of her eyebrows.

"What… oh yeah well-armed… right". Ron managed to untangle himself from Yori and wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Well I'm just glad that those two are working together now".

"I don't understand young master. Don't you wish to aid Ms. Possible yourself?"

"Yes I do but… it just doesn't feel like the right time for that yet. So in the meantime I'm glad she has some help. But if those two are headed for London then that means we need to arrange for another flight. Man I hate eating those stale in-flight peanuts".

"Then you are in luck young master. I anticipated our need for a plane so it was my honor to arrange for a Yamanouchi plane to be made available for our use".

"Wait a minute! We have a ninja plane". Yori simply nodded her head. "Why don't you people tell me these things?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They arrived at a small subsidiary airport next to the Upperton international airport. Sven drove the limo straight onto the private airfield and right up to a large private jet.

"Wow! Is this your plane?" asked Kim as she got out and whistled appreciatively.

"No it belongs to my employers", Shego finished taking out all of Kim's stuff and then tipping Sven.

"I didn't know someone else was employing you. Are they helping you with your investigation?"

"I agreed to do them the occasional business favor and in return they have financed my finding Drew's murderer".

The main side door of the jet opened and a set of large boarding stairs was lowered. Kim and Shego were walking up to the stairs when someone appeared at the door. Kim stopped dead in her tracks and her mouth fell open in shock at who it was. Shego reached over gently and pushed up Kim's jaw.

"Greetings Kim Possible. How nice to see you back in business after your exclusive private prison tour". Senor Senior, Jr. stood there with arms held high and wide. He wore tan shorts and a flowery shirt which made him look more like a Hawaiian tour guide than a billionaire businessman.

"Junior! The Seniors are your employers?" Kim gaped hard at Shego who only smiled and stepped past Kim to climb the stairs to the plane.

"Their loaded, fairly trustworthy, and willing to help. Can you think of anyone else who fits that description for us right now?" Shego leaned forward to kiss Junior on the check as she stepped past him into the plane.

Kim looked around and finding herself standing alone on the tarmac, finally she shrugged and climbed the stairs to the plane.

"Welcome Kim", Junior reached out and took Kim's hand and bent down to kiss it. "Consider yourself our guest. Our plane is your plane. Accept our sympathies for the tragic loss of your father and know that we will support you on your quest for justice".

"Thank you. Truly thank you", Kim felt a bit awkward but she thought she saw genuine sympathy in Junior's eyes.

"Now I must attend to the loading of your personal gear. But fear not my lovely wife will attend to your every need", Junior stepped past Kim and descended the stairs.

"Your wife?" Kim watched Junior's retreating form as he disappeared below the plane.

"How's it hanging K?"

"Bonnie!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Author's Notes:_

 _Now it was a blast to write this chapter. This interaction between the girls is where I've been just dying to get too in the story. Now begins some of the really fun and exciting stuff. This chapter ended up being a little bit longer than I thought it would be but I got through what I wanted and ended it where I wanted. I wish I could do that with every chapter I write._

 _I love writing the Seniors, especially Junior, and now Bonnie, Ron, and Yori are in the mix so some funny, scary, and exciting things will happen very soon._

 _I understand that I wrote the Master being very violent in this chapter but I wanted to emphasize that this is not a nice villain. The reasons for his behavior and for what he is trying to do is soon to be revealed. That revelation is meant to be truly scary._

 _Now it's back to my other story so be sure to watch for my next chapter of 'When You Wish upon a Falling Star'. I hope to have it out by early September._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Friends and Enemies**_


	9. Friends & Enemies

**Legality: Kim possible and all characters associated with it are the Copyrighted property of the Disney Corporation and the creation of Bob Schooley and Mark Mckorkle. Any characters of Disney's Kim Possible are used without their permission but for non-profit purposes.**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _ **There are only two people who can tell you the truth about yourself - an enemy who has lost his temper and a friend who loves you dearly.**_ _(Antisthenes, Greek philosopher of Athens, disciple of Socrates)_

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

Kim Possible's world had changed so much since she had been released from prison but there was no more stark example of that than where she was now. The situation of being inside this very chic, luxurious, and incredibly expensive private jet just blew her mind away. She sighed in exasperation as she sipped a strange drink, some concoction of champagne and orange juice, while staring out of the many windows at the world passing by below.

Kim tried to wrap her mind around the present facts. She was now a vigilante of justice seeking her father's murderer while partnered with Shego, her former longtime nemesis. They were flying to Europe in the private plane of Senor Senior Junior, another former enemy, while being served drinks by his wife Bonnie Rockwaller-Senior, a former fellow cheerleader and her chief tormentor from Middleton high school. Awkward didn't begin to describe the situation.

Rufus, the naked mole rat, lay napping while curled up on her lap as she reclined in one of the overstuffed chairs in the plane's main passenger cabin. Things were so strange at that moment that Kim would not have been surprised if Rufus had sat up and began yodeling. The mental picture of Rufus doing that very thing actually made Kim smile.

Shego had gone forward to talk to the pilots with Junior close behind. Bonnie had handed her the drink and then disappeared somewhere in the plane behind Kim. Now all alone, she relaxed and listened to the steady rhythm of the plane's engines as she tried to convince herself that her present course of action was the right one.

The door to the forward compartments opened and Eric the Bioroid stepped through.

It took a second for Kim to recognize him and when she did she noticed that his hands and arms were covered in blood. As she stared in shock she noticed the view behind Eric was one of complete horror. Blood and gore littered the interior of the airplane behind him. But most striking of all was the sight of Shego hanging upside down from the ceiling of the plane bleeding from a cut throat and a gaping hole in her chest.

"Don't look so shocked Ms. Possible after all you were the one who brought her into this tragedy". Eric's soft spoken voice was chilling as he slowly licked the dripping blood from his fingers.

"What… how… ", Kim found herself paralyzed and unable to move as Rufus continued to doze peacefully on her lap. Her eyes shifted from Shego's open but lifeless orbs to the cruel smug certainty of Eric's gaze. How could this have happened?

"You search for reasons while denying the truth that is right in front of you", said Eric as he sauntered up the center of the plane's cabin. He casually looked out the plane's windows as he closed on Kim's seat.

"Murderer… monster… ", hissed Kim as she struggled slowly to rise from her chair.

"Oh yes Kim we are both those things now aren't we", Eric's blood stained hands came down on Kim's wrists pinning her to the chair. Kim tried to kick and punch at him but his grip was too strong and none of her attacks seemed to have any effect on him. He simply stared into her eyes with dark penetrating intensity and only frowned when Kim finally spat into his face.

"Bastard, I took you down once and I'll do so again to you and your Master".

"I don't really matter Kim and… as for the Master… well he can take care of himself. What I want to know is why do you continue to struggle? You know the truth of it, you've already lost".

"Bullshit! I've heard that line before. I never quit then and while life is in me I will never quit now".

"The same old line, 'Anything is possible for a Possible', how pathetic. But you're wrong now my dear because the real Kim Possible is already dead. Everything she stood for is gone and all the people who believed in her know who is to blame. You!"

He was wrong. Wasn't he? This wasn't her fault. Was it? Kim's blood turned to ice and she couldn't imagine what her face looked like as Eric merely leaned back and laughed.

His right arm elongated and shot out into a fine point that impacted and crashed through one of the plane's windows. Instantly explosive decompression rushed through the cabin and Kim screamed in horror as Rufus was pulled from her lap and sucked through the window.

Kim didn't have on her seat belt and she ended up clinging desperately to her chair while being pulled off the floor. Her feet pointed straight at the open window while she watched everything else in the cabin being sucked out of the plane. Eric still stood but he was also slowly being sucked towards the broken window as well.

"No matter how hard you fight it Kim you will always lose this battle because the person you're trying to be died long ago. You're just the last one to figure it out". With that Eric merely let himself go and Kim watched as he was violently compressed and sucked out into space.

Then Kim watched as Shego's lifeless body was pulled from the forward compartment and also sucked outside. This really was her fault. She had caused all of this. Then the chair she was hanging onto gave way under her weight and she screamed as she spiraled like a leaf in the wind as the departing air pulled her towards the end…

"Hey, wake up!" Kim startled awake as Shego shook her shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Special Agent Will Du Chief Administrator of GJs Special Projects Task Force waited patiently outside the Director's office. The shrill sound of a buzzer cut through the air and he lowered his head and pushed through the door.

Dr. Betty Director of GJ sat behind her desk apparently deep in concentration while reading a set of documents that lay spread out before her. She pointed with one hand towards a chair just the right of her desk and Will smoothly and quietly sat down. He remained silent until the Director finished reading and sat back finally making eye contact with him.

"What have you got for me Will?"

Will opened a large manila folder and took out several reports he had compiled. He took a moment to leaf through them until he found the ones he wanted.

"Kim Possible has been spotted in Middleton. Specifically she has been tied to some disturbance at the abandoned Middleton Space Center.

"So, she went back home. Back to the beginning, that's typical of her. Do we know what kind of disturbance she was involved in?"

"We worked with the local authorities and were able to retrieve video from a few surveillance cameras that were still active at the Center. However, the views and quality of the video were extremely limited due to the Center being in the middle of a rather violent thunderstorm at the time of the disturbance".

"What did it show?"

"Kim was apparently involved in combat with an unidentified individual and with one… very identifiable former associate".

"Who?"

"Shego. I also confiscated all the video coverage of the incident so there was nothing left implicating Kim or Shego".

"Good thinking. I'm not surprised at them fighting. Those two have been at each other's throats for years".

"That may have been true but the video and the data we have gathered suggests they may now be working together".

"Interesting", Dr. Director lay back in her chair resting her head on her hands as she stared at the ceiling of her office. "What else?"

"We tracked Kim back to Littleton and to the home of her mother, Dr. Anne Possible. We also confirmed that Shego accompanied her there as well".

"Are they still there?"

"That's why I brought this directly to your attention now Director. They left Littleton and traveled to Upperton where they boarded a private jet bound for London, England. The ownership of the plane was traced back to the Senor Senior Sr.".

"She's using her old contacts to follow her father's work and she's going after the other scientists involved in the Nanobot program. Smart Kim… real smart".

"That is my analysis of the situation as well", Will closed the folder and sat it on his lap. "We also have confirmed a report that Ron Stoppable was sighted in Littleton at the same time Kim was there with Shego".

"It seems they're getting the old band back together", Dr. Director actually let out a low level chuckle that caused Will to raise an eyebrow in speculation. "I want you to delegate your primary duties to your subordinates. This situation with Kim Possible will now be your sole mission focus".

Will stood up before the Director in rigid military precision. "What would you have me do?"

"Put together a good tactical team and follow her. Not too close mind you. I don't want to scare her off but I want you there and available if we need to move in".

"If my team is sent in, am I to assist her or arrest her?"

"Yes", Doctor Director merely turned and once again began reading the reports on her desk.

"Understood Director", Will inclined his head slightly to the Director before turning and leaving her office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim looked up into the concerned face of Shego hovering over her. She sat up quickly and assessed the plane around her. Everything seemed normal. Rufus still napped comfortably on her lap. There was no blood, gore, broken windows, alarms, or explosive decompression.

Before Shego could step back Kim reached up and grabbed her by the shoulders and boldly pulled her into a tight embrace. Shego's initial reaction was to jump away but Kim held tight to her. When she felt Kim bury her face in her shoulder she forced herself to relax and slowly wrapped her arms around the shivering woman.

A very pregnant Bonnie leaned over and picked up Kim's glass, which she had spilled all over the floor. Shego met Bonnie's eyes over Kim's head and she motioned Bonnie away. The brunette bombshell turned away while she smiled and raised her eyebrows in speculation. Shego merely gave her the evil eye go fuck-off look.

"It's all right you just drifted off to sleep for a little while", said Shego as she eased from Kim's embrace and sat down in a chair that faced Kim.

"Oh my god I feel so childish getting upset over a dream", said Kim as she buried her face in her hands as a rosy blush shown on her cheeks.

"Never really had a use for dreams myself, I always found real life more than entertaining enough". Shego leaned back as if she were a doctor scrutinizing Kim.

Kim eyes studied Shego through the fingers of her hands. Kim began to feel self-conscious under the woman's gaze. "What?"

"It just amazes me that after surviving so many years of prison you still manage to be embarrassed by the stupidest things".

"It's not stupid", Kim lowered her hands and leaned back in her own chair. "It… was just so real… and so… Am I a different person? Than the one you knew, you know before".

"Yes".

"Just yes?" Kim sighed and threw her head back looking up at the ceiling of the plane.

"What did you expect? You're not the goody-good girl your fans grew up swooning over anymore Kim. You're a grown woman with a rough past and potentially very violent and dark future. I kinda like it myself. You know dark Kim… and all that stuff".

"Don't mock me", Kim's head came down and her eyes hardened.

"I'm not", Shego quickly held up her hands in a placating gesture. "I'm just saying… don't try to be something you're not anymore. Just own it Kim. You may not be daddy's little girl anymore but you are the woman who can avenge him".

"Well… thanks I guess".

Junior came into the cabin from the front of the plane. He moved up quickly to stand next to Shego. "Please accept my apologies for the interruption ladies but the pilot wished to discuss something with you".

"I'll be right back", Shego winked at Kim as she moved past Junior.

"Aren't you two just so sweet?" Kim turned to see Bonnie standing just behind her.

"Hello Bonnie. Shego and I are old acquaintances", Kim had been both anticipating and dreading this encounter.

"Yeah… right", Bonnie handed Kim a fresh drink as she waddled past her and slowly sat down in the chair Shego had just vacated.

Junior leaned down and rubbed his hand over Bonnie's large baby bump. "Hello little one, are you and your mommy feeling well today?"

"Down boy!" Bonnie reached down and moved Junior's hand off her belly. "Go away and play with something would you. Its girl talk time around here".

Junior bowed to Bonnie and then to Kim before he hastily followed Shego toward the front of the plane.

"I see you've done well for yourself. I always thought you would be the one to find a sugar daddy", said Kim as she crossed her legs and laid her clasped hands over her knee. "You still look awesome even with your pregnancy. So how far along are you?"

"Thirty weeks. Oh don't worry Kim after what this pregnancy does to me I believe cremation will be the only way I'll ever get a smoking hot body again. And so far as my sugar daddy, while Junior may be a good looking moron, Senior Sr. is no fool". Bonnie rolled her eyes and gently patted her full baby belly. "I have paid in full for every benefit I gained from my marriage". Bonnie couldn't cross her legs because of her very pregnant self but she leaned back in her chair and gave Kim a most smug and superior smile. "I see you're looking pretty good for an ex-con Kim. You must have won the prison lottery".

"No one wins in prison Bonnie. You just try to survive".

"Yeah… and I just wonder what you had to do to survive".

"Whatever I felt was necessary. I'm not proud of it all but I survived and made life in prison better for many others".

"Of course you did. It's what you always do. I just knew that self-sacrificing attitude of yours would get you in trouble someday".

"Better to be a self-centered bitch then?"

Bonnie leaned forward and Kim watched as she grimaced in annoyance at her large pregnant body. "You're damned right it is and you should try it sometime. I think you might like it".

"I have so missed our wonderful uplifting talks Bonnie", Kim sighed heavily.

Bonnie laughed. "I'm sorry but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to needle you a little bit. It's just so easy". Bonnie raised her hand and pointed her thumb back towards the front of the plane. "Still you seem to be getting along well with the Jolly Green Giantess".

"Like I said Shego and I are old acquaintances. How do you know her?"

"She's been hanging around the Seniors for the last couple of years. She would show up every now and ask for supplies, money, shelter, or information as she continued her crusade for justice. They seemed to have a soft spot for her so they always said yes. Sometimes I think she was just plain lonely".

"Scared she would cut in on your action with Junior?" Kim couldn't help but smile.

"Oh don't worry I found out she is full of lively action". Bonnie licked her lips in an exaggerated fashion.

"What the…"

Bonnie laughed. Being pregnant was definitely a pain. Putting up with Junior's overprotective machismo was annoying. Having to alter her schedule in the U.S. to pick up these girls was lame. Seeing Kim Possible's face contort into spastic sexual innuendo confusion… priceless.

"Don't worry Kim I don't think she actually noticed me but she really missed you".

"Yeah… and I should believe that?"

"No I mean it. She never stopped complaining about how you being locked up was holding her back and how things would finally get back on track once you were out". Bonnie took a moment to look around the plane and then finally back at Kim. "Looks like she was right".

Shego stuck her head back in the cabin. "You better get strapped in as we will be landing at Heathrow in just a few minutes". Shego began to withdraw but she leaned back in when she saw Bonnie and Kim sitting so close together. "Bonnie be nice. Kim is a guest on this flight".

Bonnie merely stuck her tongue out at Shego as she heaved herself up out of her chair and moved towards the back of the plane. "Don't worry Kim; we'll finish our talk later".

"Looking forward to it", said Kim as she rubbed her temples trying to stave off the headache she felt coming on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They landed at Heathrow airport without incident. Junior paid off a minor government official who allowed Kim and Shego to bring their equipment through customs without being impounded. As Kim, Shego, Junior, and Bonnie left the airport a long stretched limousine pulled up and Junior graciously opened the door for the ladies. Bonnie patted his check as she got in, Shego pinched his butt causing him to jump, and Kim merely said 'Thank you' while rolling her eyes.

Bonnie and Junior sat on one plush seat facing the rear while Kim and Shego faced the front of the limo. Rufus stood up on Kim's knee and stared gleefully out as they passed through the city. The driver handed a folded message back to Junior. He opened the message and read it before smacking the paper and hooting in triumph.

"Wonderful news, Professor Ramesh has agreed to our audience at his home tomorrow morning".

"Tomorrow? I was hoping to see him right away", complained Kim.

"Cool your rockets Kimjet, he hasn't left his damn nature preserve in years. Speaking of which, how'd you get him to see us? Every time I tried to get in the bastard flat refused to see me", snarled Shego.

"I offered him a large research grant to continue his arboreal studies which he initially refused. However, when I mentioned that Kim Possible would be attending as part of the meeting he agreed".

Shego raised an eyebrow and turned to Kim who only shrugged her shoulders and smiled. It was at that instant that Kim's Kimmunicator beeped.

"Hello Wade. What's the sitch?" Kim couldn't help but smirk at her tried and true grandiloquence.

"You have to love the classics", said Wade as his tired but smiling face glanced back from the Kimmunicator's small view screen. "I have some good news on the Bioroid research front. Is Shego with you?"

"Right here nerdlinger", Shego leaned over next to Kim's head so part of her head appeared on Wade's screen.

"Don't call him that", Kim pushed Shego off of her. "If you hadn't figured it out yet we need him. Go ahead Wade".

"I've made a breakthrough on my work on scanning through the Bioroids interference patterns. I have a prototype scanner on its way to your hotel in London. It should be there tomorrow morning".

"So we will be able to locate the Bioroids CPUs?"

"Yes but only at close range".

"How close?" Shego leaned back in to look at Wade. This time Kim didn't push her away.

"Unfortunately 'too' damned close. I would say no further than five meters".

"Great! We'll get a reading on them right as they're tearing our heads off", Shego glanced up at Kim.

"Sorry. I'll try to booster the scanning range after more research and I can give you an updated model".

"Thanks Wade. We appreciate the assist and you still rock, Kim out". Kim glanced down at Shego who was still leaning over on her. "Do you mind"?

"Nah… I'm comfortable".

"Oh get off", Kim pushed Shego back to her side again.

"Was that a suggestion or an invitation?"

Kim only sighed as she glanced across the seat to see a look of smug delight in Bonnie's eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim had wanted to get started right away with her investigation but Junior had reserved them suites in one of the priciest hotels in London. One look at the luxurious room with sparkling baths, lush carpets, and silken sheets and Kim thought that maybe one night here wasn't such a bad idea. Rufus had already claimed one of the beds large pillows and was sacked out snoring atop it already.

She dropped her bags on the bed and began opening up her stuff. The Kimmunicator lay on the bed next to her bags and naturally it went off as she was putting her things away.

"If you keep calling me like this Wade, Shego is going to start talking about us", Kim opened the channel but left the Kimmunicator on the bed.

"I couldn't be that Lucky Kim. Besides I don't think I play on the right team to interest you now do I", Wade's tone was playful but his face looked serious and haggard.

"For you I might make an exception".

"I'll remember that if we survive this. Are you alone?" Kim noticed that Wade's voice had taken on an extremely serious tone.

"Yeah, Shego is across the hall while Junior and Bonnie are further down", Kim took out some of her clothes and began hanging up what she didn't want to get wrinkled.

"We're going to have to limit our communications for the foreseeable future".

"What's wrong? Is there trouble?" Kim turned and looked down at Wade.

"Since I've been helping Shego and especially since I recently began helping you I've noticed someone is searching for me. Lately I've had several of my dark sites and dummy routers compromised which has shut down some of my network. Whoever it is they are persistent and in possession of some of the most advanced tech I've ever seen".

"Could it be government related or our friend… this Master", Kim all but hissed the last word.

"I think the later and if he's using your father's tech then I could be dealing with something totally new here. I believe the only thing that has saved me from detection so far is the infrequency of our interactions and the fact that I've spent years hiding from almost ever intelligence agency on the planet".

Kim was hanging up her combat clothing and had turned her back to the bed. She failed to see a piece of one of her bags melt away, detach itself, and slide like a dark worm over to the Kimmunicator. From where it moved it was out of sight of Wade's screen and when it touched the unit it seeped into the device leaving no trace of its passage. The screen flickered for a second but no other alarm sounded at the nanobot's intrusion.

"So we need to limit our calls. Alright I will put the Kimmunicator on an emergency use only basis".

"Thanks Kim. Hopefully I'll have this under control soon. I haven't survived this long by being sloppy".

"I agree Wade", Kim picked out a short white dress and held it up in front of her as she viewed herself in one of the room's wall mirrors. "Well if I'm stuck here doing nothing for the evening I'm going to go downstairs to have a drink".

"Have fun Kim and drink one for me", Wade cut the signal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kim stepped out of the lift freshly cleaned with her hair loose around her shoulders and dressed in a tight knee length white dress that while cut low on the back was modest in the front but still displayed her assets nicely. Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she strode through the lobby towards the bar. She noticed several admiring glances from both men and women and felt roaming eyes following her. It had been a while since Kim had the chance to dress up without it being part of a mission and it was kind of fun. That was until she stepped into the bar and then she saw her.

Shego sat alone at a table in the center of the bar. Her hair was loose and flowed down her back like a dark cascade. She wore a dark emerald dress that was held up by one shoulder strap and cut up along the side almost up to her hip. To say that she was stunning or gorgeous was such a gross understatement as everyone in the bar tried not to stare while at the same time appearing afraid to approach her.

With her eyes closed she held a glass of dark brown liquid and rubbed it back and forth against her forehead as if in contemplation or prayer.

Kim's first reaction was to turn and leave but that was what the old Kim would do. Instead the new Kim drew in a deep breath and entered going directly to Shego's table. "May I join you?"

Shego's eyes shot open and she sat straighter as she smiled up at Kim. "Of course", she waved a hand to an open chair at the table. "What'll you have?"

"Whatever you're having", Kim sat demurely smoothing her dress. She could feel the eyes of the entire bar upon both of them.

Shego shot back the entire contents of her glass in one drink and then snapped her fingers. A male bar attendant appeared immediately. "Single malt Scotch, at least eighteen years old, neat for me and my friend. On second thought just bring the bottle". The man dipped his head in acknowledgment and withdrew.

"You clean up good Possible. You're all grown up now".

Kim frowned slightly at the 'grown up' comment but Shego only smirked back at her. "So says the woman whose looks are putting everyone else's here to shame", Kim raised her own smirk back at Shego.

"So you like the way I look huh?" Shego teased as the barman dropped off the bottle of Scotch and some glasses.

"Please… " Kim poured herself and Shego a drink and took a long sip of hers. She savored the smoky dark liquor and immediately felt its effects smooth out her already tangled nerves.

"Well here's to beautiful women out on the town", Shego held out her glass and Kim clinked her glass against it. "So let's talk. You tell me about the last few years of prison life and I'll tell you about my time hunting down Drew's killer".

Over the next few hours both women laid out stories of the last few years. Kim told of fighting off six inmates at once to avoid gang rape in prison. Shego described stumbling on one of Jack Hench's drug operations in South America and burning it to the ground. As the talk continued each woman seemed determined to one up the other's stories as the scotch bottle was quickly emptied.

"So you did both of them at the same time?" Shego asked incredulously.

Kim merely winked and nodded her head as she sipped back a large gulp of Scotch.

"Wow… and you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"They were the leaders of the two largest prison gangs. They had been a waging war for months, with too many dying in the crossfire, and no resolution in sight. I brought them together and helped them find some… common ground".

"By being sandwiched in bed between them?" Shego threw back her head and laughed.

"They weren't all bad. They were brave women who were scared of what they couldn't control. I helped them resolve their differences. They became my friends".

"They became your lovers".

"Whatever… the point is I managed to save a lot of lives". Shego raised her glass in toast and Kim answered with her own. "What about you? I highly doubt a smoking hot piece such as you was alone the entire time I was away".

"I wasn't", Kim noticed Shego turn away and take a large drink from her glass. "Not most of the time anyway".

"So do tell?"

"Not… much to tell". Kim could see Shego begin to tense up.

"Ooooh… that's normally a signal for there's definitely something to tell". Kim leaned forward and almost slipped out of her chair. The alcohol was definitely beginning to get to her.

"I don't want to talk about it", Shego seemed to squirm a little in her chair.

"Come on. You don't have just one little steamy sexy story you want to share with me?"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!" Kim saw a definite flash of angry green light come from Shego's eyes.

"Really… well after all this time it appears the mighty Shego is more sexually repressed then I am".

"You think so", Shego's head whipped around causing her hair to sway wildly and Kim almost fell over trying to follow it with her eyes. "Well why don't you just prove it then".

"How would I do that?" Kim giggled.

"Kiss me".

"What!" Kim's hand froze in midair as she was about to take a drink and her eyes grew huge in surprise.

Shego uncurled her legs from her chair and stood directly in front of Kim. She displayed only the slightest of wobbles courtesy of all the alcohol she had consumed.

"If you're really so unrepressed and think I'm beautiful then give me a kiss".

"I was speaking of how aesthetically pleasing you look", Kim set her drink down with a shaky hand.

"Then this should be a piece of cake, unless you're afraid do it", Shego head tilted slightly to one side and the grin she gave was absolutely feral.

"With everyone watching", Kim cast a wary glance at all the patrons still left in the bar.

"Sure. Let's give them all a cheap thrill. Watching us, it's all they've been thinking about all night anyway".

"Be careful what you ask for", Kim's face hardened as she stood up on wobbly legs but righted herself before she fell down. She moved in front of Shego until she was so close she felt the other woman's accelerated breathing on her lips.

"At your leisure, my lady". Shego held out her arms while smiling with slightly puckered lips.

Kim seemed to hesitate and then like a striking serpent she leaned in and minutely pressed her lips to Shego's before jolting backwards.

"Oh come on, Motor Ed kisses better than that. I meant a real kiss".

Kim's arms stiffened at her sides and her hands clenched into fists. She looked Shego dead in the eye as her lips trembled and then puckered. Her whole body appeared to be quivering as she leaned forward closing her eyes.

Shego was slightly amazed as it actually looked like Kim was going to do it. Then their noses barely touched and Kim's eye's snapped open and she pulled back releasing the breath that she had been holding.

"I'm sorry but I just… I'm sorry". Kim turned and with the occasional misstep she hurried from the bar and back into the hotel lobby. Shego watched as Kim made her way to the lift and disappeared back upstairs.

"Oh shit. I am such a fucking idiot", Shego slapped herself hard in the forehead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego rode alone in the lift upstairs to her room. Some idiot had tried to enter when she had but she had tossed the fool out neatly upon his ass. Now she stood banging her head against the lift's door as she ascended.

"Stupid, ignorant, lustful, slut", she berated herself. She had waited so long for Kim to be released and now she had totally screwed things up. After all this time of thinking, waiting, anticipating, hoping to get a piece of her old life back she had pushed too hard.

Why is it always a competition between the two of us? She had Kim there talking, opening, and receptive and that wasn't good enough for her. No, she just had to push it.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Shego punctuated every word with a bang of her head. Then the door opened.

Kim stood right outside the lift's door staring hard back at Shego. There was a little moisture surrounding her eyes as if she had been crying but no tears shown on her face now. Shego almost stepped into her as she made to move from the lift but drew herself up short when she saw Kim.

"Hey… you forget some…" Shego never finished vocalizing her thought.

Far quicker than Shego's alcohol reduced senses could imagine Kim wrapped her arms around her neck and plastered her lips to her own.

 _'What the fuck?'_ was the first thought went through Shego's head. Kim's momentum had twisted her around as the girl wrapped her legs around Shego's waist. Unable to maintain her balance Shego staggered backwards out of the lift and into the hallway. To steady herself and stop Kim from squirming against her she grabbed Kim's body and her hands quickly moved down to Kim's backside.

 _'My hands are on her ass! MY HANDS ARE ON HER ASS!'_ Shego's train of thought was interrupted as Kim's tongue worked its way into her mouth and began battling with her own tongue. Coherent thought became incredibly hard to come by as Shego began to kiss Kim back with increased enthusiasm. She attempted an awkward halting march down the hallway. Like a billiard ball in a pool hall they careened from wall to wall as Kim writhed like a snake against Shego's body. Shego kept trying to get a better hold on Kim while managing to keep at least one hand on her ass.

Without breaking the lip lock Kim's head twisted side to side as her body slid up and down against the taller woman. Her breasts were pushing hard against Shego's as Kim moved and the friction was exquisite and unbearable. Shego could already tell the underwear she was wearing was ruined by now. Ha, if things continued escalating like this then this set would become a trophy pair to hang on the wall.

 _'Omg…got to get to a room… got to get to a bed'_ , that was all Shego could imagine as she opened one eye trying to orient herself on finding her room. Amazingly out of the passion induced fog she found herself in she saw her room number. With one hand squeezing Kim's ass tight against her the other fumbled for where she had secreted the room card in her dress. That damn card was nearly impossible to locate much less extract with Kim hanging all over her but somehow she succeeded.

'Where is that damned slot…' she moaned loudly into Kim's mouth as the redhead rubbed her pelvis perfectly into her own, 'not that slot the damned card slot'. Eureka… she wailed inside as the card slid home and her room door clicked open.

Without any warning Kim disengaged her hands and leapt down from Shego's arms. Before Shego could recover Kim shoved her hard by the shoulders and she fell back through the door and landing unceremoniously on her own ass. She looked up to see Kim standing over with a long accusatory finger pointing down at her.

"Now get this straight right now. I am not the little girl you grew up playing with. Never… ever forget that again". Kim then turned on heel and strode directly across the hall to her own room, opened then slammed the door behind her.

Shego raised up on her elbows still lying on the floor. She raised a shaky finger to her lips. She could still feel Kim's lips upon her own. She could still taste those lips, scotch mixed with vanilla. She could still smell Kim's scent on her hands and fingers. Wow!

"Damn that was hot", she whispered to herself as the Shego smirky smile of old returned to her lips. Things were definitely beginning to look up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _'Damn that was hot'_ , Kim thought for the thousandth time since the hallway episode with Shego last night. Now she absently rubbed one of her finger tips against her lips as she stared out the Limo's window as the car pulled away from the hotel. Her fingers still remembered the feel of Shego's hair and the taste of her kiss.

Kim shook her head in frustration. She was supposed to be thinking about solving her father's murder not… well definitely not what she was thinking about.

Rufus sat next to her working to open the package from Wade, Kim had received this morning at the hotel. On the opposite seat Junior and Shego sat facing Kim. Bonnie had elected to avoid the trip to the professor's home entirely and stay at the hotel.

Kim had been up before the others and had been waiting in the lobby when Junior and Shego had come down. Kim was wearing her mission clothing including her light tactical suit and combat gear. Shego was wearing a variant of her old uniform with black pants, a green top, and black gloves. Junior decked out in a blue business suit had been his normally vocal self but Kim and Shego hadn't said a word to each other. They had simply followed him into the car.

Kim just couldn't stop thinking about last night. After she had slammed the door on Shego, which had scared Rufus half to death, she had stood in the middle of her room shaking and not knowing what to do. Her body and a good portion of her mind wanted desperately to go back across the hall. But if she did that she knew where that would lead and she wasn't sure she wanted that. She wasn't sure she was ready for that. Not yet anyway. So she had removed her dress and stood in the middle of a very cold shower until her body stopped shaking. Well at least until it was only shivering from the cold. When finished she went to bed and found it took a very long time to get to sleep.

Kim risked a quick glance and found Shego staring back at her. Kim didn't look away and surprisingly it was Shego who broke eye contact first. What is she thinking? Does she hate me or is she interested in me in that way? Did I really just ask myself that question? Kim began to say something but she noticed Junior sitting right next to Shego and decided this was not the place for that conversation.

"Boo-ya", squeaked Rufus as he gleefully burrowed into the cubical package sitting next to Kim. A small tiny hand held out a small set of papers which Kim took and began to read. Wade had included instructions for the use of his new scanner. They were to be fitted directly over the eyes and the scans would penetrate almost any technological or biological substance, at least at close range. Wade warned that since this set was a prototype there were probably some things the scans might get confused about or read in error. However the glasses should reliably identify the position of the Bioroid's CPUs. The instructions also warned that prolonged use could cause optical nerve feedback resulting in severe headaches.

Rufus emerged from the package wearing what appeared to be an elaborate pair of sunglasses. Kim reached over and lifted the sunglasses off him while lifting Rufus up to sit on her shoulder. She examined the glasses and although they looked like normal sunglasses Kim suspected they were much more. She merely shrugged and put on the glasses.

The world suddenly looked very different. Kim was able to see into and through almost anything she looked at. She could look through the car door and see the internal parts as if she was viewing an x-ray. She glanced down at Rufus and could see a ghostly shadow of his skin overlaying his internal organs and skeletal structure. Looking down at her own body Kim could see through her own skin, clothing, equipment, and into her own internal body structure. It was simultaneously cool and very creepy at the same time.

Kim detected an odd reading, through the glasses, coming from her hip and Kim reached down and took out her Kimmunicator. She could see the device as never before. Its entire internal structure was visible to her as if she could have taken it apart and looked at each piece individually. There was a long thin black like wire or connection piece that the glasses couldn't identify inside the unit. Well Wade did say there could be something the glasses might not be able to recognize. Kim put the Kimmunicator away and took off the glasses. Right away she felt a stabbing pain behind her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Kim detected a note of both worry and reproach in Shego's tone.

"Yes".

"So do the Ray-bans there do the trick?"

"I think so but I hope I don't have to wear them for long". Kim folded the glasses and placed them in an upper pouch of her suit.

"We're going to an ex-physicist/astronomer turned horticulturist Kim. What would we need them for there?"

"Because these situations always go wrong when we least expect them too".

"Yes they do don't they", Shego pulled out a file and began to sharpen the nails of her gloves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The nature preserve they drove to was far north of London in the Broxbourne Woods. The car circled the preserve once before they found the tiny entrance to the Professor's home. An elaborate gate across a narrow path prevented egress and the car parked outside it. As Kim, Shego, and Junior exited the car, with Rufus riding on Kim's shoulder, a man dressed in a park ranger uniform emerged from the foliage.

"May I help you?"

"Why of course my good sir. I am the representative of the Senior Research fund and these are my associates Ms. Go and Ms. Possible. We have an appointment to see Professor Ramesh", Junior extended his hand to the man. The man's eyes followed the offered hand but otherwise he showed no interest in shaking hands. Then he pulled a small scratchpad of paper from his pocket and flipped to the top page.

"You're on the schedule for today", the man put away his pad and lifted the gate. "Please follow me".

"What's your name handsome?" asked Shego as she passed under the gate.

"I am agent Louie". He turned and began leading them down the narrow path into the preserve.

"What do you do here Mr. Louie?" asked Kim.

"Agent Louie. I maintain the preserve on the Professor's property and serve as part of his security team".

"How large is the Professor's security team?"

"Other than myself there are agents Huey and Dewey".

"Wait a minute. Agents Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Are you fucking kidding us?" mocked Shego.

"No", agent Louie didn't even break stride at Shego's crass remark.

After walking for several minutes back into the woods they emerged at small clearing where a modest two story home stood. A second man in a ranger's uniform emerged as they entered the clearing.

"I am agent Dewey. The Professor does not allow any electronic or technological devices into his home. Place them here and all will be returned to you when you leave".

Kim and Shego shared a worried expression but each began removing various things. Junior handed over his phone and a small portable computer pad. Shego handed over her Kimmunicator and Kim handed over her own unit and a few extra devices she carried. She didn't hand over everything she carried especially the new sunglass scanner in her suit.

Agent Dewey accepted all the things they handed over and placed them into a sealed storage unit set up outside the house. He then led them through the front door and into the house with Agent Louie following close behind.

Kim found the interior of the house to be quite cozy with several plants, paintings, rugs, and antique furniture spread all over the interior. They followed agent Dewey up an elaborate staircase to the second floor where they entered a large study. It was here that they finally found Professor Ramesh sitting alone on a large comfortable looking settee. Behind him was another man dressed in a rangers outfit that Kim assumed was the before mentioned agent Huey. Kim did a quick scan of the room and saw a large bay window on one wall that looked out over the front yard. She also saw a large desk with papers strewn about it and several bottles of what appeared to be prescription medicines. She couldn't tell exactly with just a cursory glance but the pill bottles looked like antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs.

Ramesh was sitting and paging through a book of photographs when he looked up at the sound of their approach. His face looked haggard and worn as if he had been under great stress and slept little for a very long time. He scanned them and when his eyes settled on Kim his face lit up and the quiver of a smile spread across his face. Kim also noted a small amount of drool also leaked out of the Professor mouth.

"It's you… you're here", Ramesh's voice was broken and slightly garbled.

"Oy vey", whispered Shego in apparent chagrin.

Kim threw a hard glance at Shego before she moved up to the Professor and knelt before him. Junior sat in one of the many chairs in the study while Shego just leaned against the entry doorframe. Agent Louie stood out in the hall and agent Dewey disappeared behind a cabinet and returned carrying a tray with a decanter of tea, glasses, and cookies.

"Would you like some tea Professor?" asked Agent Dewey.

"Yes… would you join me?" Ramesh reached out to take Kim's hand.

"Yes I would", Kim grasped the Professor's hand which was ice cold and she rubbed it between hers to warm it.

"It's really you isn't it Kim".

"Yes Professor it's me. I'm here".

"You have your father's face but you have your mother's eyes. They are such beautiful eyes".

"Thank you and thank you for seeing us today". Kim released the Professor's hand as Agent Dewey handed him and her a cup of tea. Rufus leapt down upon the tray and began devouring various cookies. They drank slowly while Rufus ate without saying anything. Shego cleared her throat from behind Kim and she just waved her hand behind her to shush the other woman. "Professor we came to talk to you about my father's work. Specifically the last thing you worked on with him… the Nanobot experiment".

"Yes… I imagined that was why you came. I was just looking back at it when you came in. Nasty bit of business that was. James didn't deserve to die like that".

"I know", Kim tried not to picture her father falling into the Nanobot pool and being torn apart but she just couldn't stop herself.

"Yes you were there weren't you with that little blond boy… what was his name?"

"His name was Ron, Professor."

"Yes that was it", Ramesh's head turned and he glanced out the big bay window. "They're out there you know".

"What's out there Professor?"

"The Nanobots. They're everywhere by now. All electronics can be infected with them. Computers, phones, cars, planes, ships, almost everything in today's world can be touched by them. Governments, militaries, economies, environments, there is nothing they can't touch. It's almost apocalyptic in its scope". Ramesh's whole body began to tremble and he closed his eyes as if in pain. "God forgive us for what we did."

"Professor stay with me please", Kim lifted the Professor's chin so he could see her. "That day in the lab before the Nanobot accident when you were in the control room with Dr. Porter, do you remember that?"

"Yes".

"You appeared frightened and you were arguing with Dr. Porter. What were you arguing about? What scared you?"

"There… there was an anomaly within the data we were receiving".

"What sort of anomaly?"

"It wasn't right. It wasn't supposed to be there".

"What wasn't supposed to be there?"

"The Nanobot control signals. There was a brainwave pattern".

"A brainwave pattern? You mean there was a brain wave pattern over the Nanobot control signals?"

"Yes".

"How did you know it was a brainwave pattern?"

"Because… because I recognized it". Ramesh closed his eyes again and Kim could hear him begin praying. She grabbed both his hands now and squeezed them trying to keep his attention.

"Stay with me Professor Ramesh. You had seen this particular brainwave pattern before. Where?"

"In our work. Yes I recognized it. I knew whose pattern that was".

"Whose pattern was it Professor?" Kim leaned forward until she was very close to Ramesh.

"It was…" Ramesh's body jerked and his hands were torn away from Kim's as his mouth opened in a silent scream. Blood erupted from his chest as what appeared to be a metal spike or blade was shoved through the professor's heart.

Kim franticly wiped away the Professor's blood from her face as she looked over Ramesh's shoulder into the face of his killer. Agent Huey stood behind the settee with his arm elongated into a bladed like weapon that he had shoved through the back of it and Ramesh.

"I'm sorry Professor but you have just outlived your usefulness". Huey withdrew his arm and Ramesh collapsed to the floor in front of Kim. She glanced around the room and the professor's entire security team changed right in front of her. Huey, Dewey, and Louie's eyes turned red and their bodies began morphing and sprouting a variety of deadly weapons. Kim looked down in horror at the Professor's body and then back up at the three Bioroids that began to close in on her.

Damn it they had been so close to the answer.

"Move it Possible. Move it", she heard Shego shout at her.

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 _Author's Notes:_

 _Once again forgive my tardiness on the late release of this chapter. I have no one to blame but myself. I was really stuck on the KIGO part in the middle but I think I finally managed to get that scene where I wanted it. I hope you all like it and please review because I would love your feedback._

 _Now it's back to my other story and the exciting action of what happened after the comet struck Mars. I plan to get that chapter out before the New Year. So look for it soon._

 _Next Chapter:_ _ **Three is definitely a crowd**_


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